Spectro Magic
by Celtic Words
Summary: There's a new girl in town that is assigned to Abby as a lab assistant. Will Abby let someone in her lab? Will Gibbs accept her as a part of his team? And what is Spectro Magic? Gibbs/OFC, Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Spectro Magic**

**Summary: What happens when a new team member is assigned to Team Gibbs and becomes an integral part of the team? Does Abby accept her into her world? Does Gibbs trust her? And what is Spectro Magic? It is a Gibbs/OC story with my own little twist on it. I hope you enjoy.**

**This genre of fanfiction is completely new to me. I have always written Harry Potter fics in the past. Please be kind as I try something new.**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the environments that are a part of the CBS series NCIS. This story is purely for entertainment purposes only…I am not making any profit on this in any way. I simply like to play with the characters I love to watch each week on TV.

------------------------------------

Chapter 1: The New Girl in Town

I was assigned to the NCIS team under the direction of Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on December 2nd, at 9:00 a.m. My name is Elizabeth Ophelia Brandle. But people call me Lizzie. I started my career as a Forensic Scientist in a local police department in my hometown, Houston, Texas.

It didn't take long for me to become possessive of my lab and to work my way up to a supervisory position. I ran things like clockwork. I was clean, efficient, and I always double-checked my work. After five years of working for the Houston Police Department I had a reputation that was recognized throughout the city. I found myself being tossed from precinct to precinct to help out other forensic specialists with their evidence work.

Because I became picky about how things are organized and recorded, not to mention scanned, I saved my money for over a year to purchase my very own Mass Spec. I named him Spectro Magic; and now I have gotten in the habit of taking him wherever I go. It's just easier that way…and I know how he works.

After the tenth move to yet another precinct that needed help on their Forensics I decided it was time for a change. I wanted to move and try something different. Right about that time my mother passed away and left me with a house and a rather large inheritance. It allowed me to live comfortably and not worry about earning a large salary. But that was the final deciding factor that assured me it was time to get away.

I applied to the NCIS group in hopes of becoming a Forensic Specialist in the criminal investigative units. Because I was new to the bureau they put me through the months of training and other necessary pre-requisites I needed before I was given my first assignment. I was to be the Forensic Lab Assistant to a Ms. Abigail Scuito, in the NCIS unit lead by Special Agent Gibbs.

This group came with quite a reputation. I was told before I reported for duty to expect some resistance to my presence.

"They are a tight group that has been through a lot in the past years. Ms. Scuito is known for dismissing lab assistants quickly and prefers to work alone. Also, Special Agent Gibbs is demanding and results driven. If you are not able to keep up with his pace he will dismiss you faster than Ms. Scuito ever will." Director Vance gave me some advice before he introduced me to the team. "It is a quiet day for the team. They don't have any new cases and they have closed all of their recent ones. They should be able to show you the ropes and get you settled in."

"Yes, sir." I stood at attention ready for the worst. I am not a federal agent by any means. I only know about my craft and that was what I hoped to be instrumental in doing.

"One final thing: You were chosen for this position because of your psychological profile. You have tested closely to Ms. Scuito's unique style of doing things and you come highly recommended from your previous position in Houston. But never call Special Agent Gibbs, Sir." Director Vance pulled my file from the top of his desk and walked around to stand in front of me.

"What shall I call him, sir?"

"His team is in the habit of calling him Boss or Gibbs. He will instruct you on his MO." Vance turned around and pressed the intercom button on his phone.

"Yes, sir?" The line came alive with a female's voice.

"Have Special Agent Gibbs report to my office."

"Yes, sir." The line went silent as I waited for the next step in my life to begin. It suddenly became real to me all that had changed. In just a short time I rented out my mother's house, put a down payment on a condo in the D.C. area, and was about to begin a whole new era in my career. After hearing all of the horror stories about Special Agent Gibbs, my stomach did a small flip flop as I waited in silence for him to appear.

I was standing in front of the Director's desk with my hands behind my back. I had my feet slightly apart in a 'parade rest' kind of position. I was wearing a black suit that was well tailored with a knee length skirt and a purple bustier underneath. I always like to show a little of my own personality in my clothing by shocking people with the unexpected. To finish my look I had on a pair of black, strap-y heels, with my auburn hair cut in a short bob. It had lots of layers in it, and I was in the habit of pushing it back off my face with a headband while working in my lab. The color wasn't natural. But I decided I had been a Brunette for far too long…so I went to the beauty salon with a picture of a light auburn color and had it changed. I love the color and how it brings out my green eyes.

I was startled out of my own reverie as the door to the director's office came open in a flash and an older man in a black pants, black sport coat and black button down shirt came into the office with his gold badge clipped to his belt.

"You called, Director?" He was a handsome man…probably in his late fifties, with a strong build. His hair was silver and very controlled.

"Gibbs, I want you to meet the newest member of your team. This is Elizabeth Brandle. She is a highly recommended Forensic Scientist."

Gibbs looked over at me with a scrutinizing eye that made me feel like I was the chink in all of his problems. "I already have a first class Forensic Scientist on my team."

"Ms. Brandle has been assigned to be Ms. Scuito's lab assistant."

"Oh, hell, Vance! You know as well I as I do that Abby will never accept someone into her lab. I don't care how good she is." He became agitated as he came closer to the Director to make his point.

"This was not my decision. Apparently Ms. Brandle has something in her psychological profile that warranted her being sent specifically to this team. She has an impeccable work record. Just give her a chance and introduce her to your team before you take her down to Ms. Scuito's lab to get settled in."

"Settled in?" Gibbs chuckled at the whole situation. "You know how Abby is about her instruments…no one touches them."

"If I may, sir?" I asked in a much more bold voice than I felt at that moment. Gibbs looked at me with a piercing gaze that told me that I had already made a mistake. "I mean, Gibbs. I am the same way about my lab instruments. I brought my own Mass Spec with me."

I think I caught him a little off guard as he smirked slightly. He walked over to me and looked me up and down to take in my full person. I noticed his eyes stop and rest on my bustier that was peaking out of my buttoned up suit jacket.

"Tell me, Ms. Brandle, who travels with a Mass Spec? That is a fairly large instrument to cart around."

"Please, call me Lizzie, everyone does. And, well, I do. I was transferred to many different labs on a regular basis in Houston. I find that all Mass Specs run a little different and have their own temperaments. So, I finally gave in and purchased my own. Now I at least have consistency anywhere I go." My eyes never left his as I tried to convey a bravado that I simply did not possess.

"Follow me." With those words Gibbs turned around in one swift move, grabbed my file from the director's hands and began to leave the office. I looked over to the director with a question in my eyes about following his orders.

"I suggest you keep up with him Ms. Brandle." The director dismissed me as I scurried out of the office and caught up to Gibbs. I followed him down a staircase that overlooked the entire first floor. There were groupings of desks that each had about four to five desks in them.

Once we reached the bottom we made a quick turn and walked down a hallway of sorts to end up in one center with four desks facing each other.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs got one man's attention as he walked into the grouping of desks and passed the people to find his own desk.

"Boss?" Tony stood up from his desk and looked over to Gibbs for direction.

Gibbs set my file down on his desk and grabbed a cup of coffee. "Where's McGee?"

"McGeek is down in Abby's lab helping her with some bandwith thingy." Tony came out from behind his desk dressed in dark slacks and a dark maroon button down shirt with a black tie with matching colors swirled in it. He was probably in his late thirties and very handsome.

"He's probably helping her to determine the optimal Bandwith for the Forensics network system in order to gain the most efficient times on future calculations and database searches." I spoke out of turn without even thinking and immediately knew that I was crossing lines.

"Exactly." Tony pointed to me while he still addressed Gibbs. "Who are you?" Tony looked me over as he came closer to where Gibbs and I were standing.

"This is Elizabeth Brandle. She's the newest member of our team. She will be assisting Abby in the Forensics department." Gibbs announced me to the group.

"Ahh, Boss, Abby is not going to like that."

"I know that DiNozzo. But this came from above Vance…so it is our task to see that Abby at least gives her a shot."

"That means no hitting on her, Tony." An accented female voice came from over my shoulder as a beautiful dark brunette woman came into the bullpen.

"Ziva I can control myself."

"Really? I give it two days before you do something that can be misconducted as sexual harassment."

"It's misconstrued, Ziva."

"Alright you two, behave." Gibbs interrupted their banter with just a few stern words.

"I apologize for Tony's behavior. My name is Special Agent Ziva David." The young beautiful woman extended her hand in my direction.

"Lizzie." I shook her hand.

"And I'm Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo." He extended his hand to shake mine as well. "If you ever need anything, Lizzie, I am your guy. I can provide you with restaurant suggestions, housing arrangements and even give you insider tips on the Boss man's rules." Tony gave me a cocky smile as he nodded his head towards Gibbs to point out the boss man.

"DiNozzo." Gibbs walked up behind him and smacked him on the back of his head. "Try not to flirt with the new girl on the first day."

"Right, Boss."

"Lizzie, let me take you down to Abby's lab and get you and your Mass Spec situated in your new role." Gibbs nodded towards me to get my attention as he turned and started to stride away with determination.

"You have your own Mass Spec?" Tony impeded my progress in following Gibbs with his comment.

"DiNozzo!"

"Right, Boss. Shutting up, Boss."

I took that as my cue to hurry up and catch up to Gibbs as he hit the button on the elevator. I ran towards the doors as they opened and he got on the elevator. I heard the sound of the floor button being pushed and slid into the elevator just as the doors were closing.

"Close call, Lizzie. You'll have to learn to move fast with this group."

"Not a problem, Boss." I smiled in his direction to see if he was okay with me using that term to address him. He smiled back at me and shook his head as he chuckled at my obvious seeking of approval.

"Don't worry about me, Liz. Abby is the one you're going to have to win over. She's very particular about her lab."

"I already got that impression. I take it she's never had a successful lab assistant before?"

"Not yet." Gibbs eyed my bustier again as the elevator came to a stop and the doors began to open. "But I have a feeling you might be different." He walked out of the elevator with a smile on his face.

I heard the sound of music beating wildly as I followed him into the lab. I was shocked to see a tall, black-haired Goth wearing a short black and red plaid skirt and skin tight black t-shirt. She was standing in front of wall of computer screens and typing furiously.

Gibbs walked up behind her without her noticing and blew a short puff of air on the back of her neck. One of her pigtails fluffed up from his action as she turned in surprise.

"Gibbs! You have to stop doing that."

"Aww, you love it Abbs."

"Not always. So what brings you to my domain on this day? I don't have anything for you, we don't have any open cases. And I don't see a caf-pow." Her eyes flicked over to me quickly as she took in my presence in her lab.

"I have someone here for you to meet. This is Elizabeth Brandle." Gibbs gestured to me during his introduction.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Abby." She extended her hand towards me as she bounced with the glee of someone who enjoys her work.

"You can call me Lizzie. It's good to meet you too." I smiled at her and took in her collar and dark make-up that worked so well on her.

At that time I saw another man come around a corner from an office in the back of the lab.

"I think I figured out our communication problem, Abbs." He stopped in his tracks and stood a little straighter. "Boss? Did you need something?"

"At ease, McGee."

"McGee this is Lizzie Brandle, Gibbs just introduced her to me." Abby smiled at me and him as she made our introductions.

"Hi." He came over and shook my hand with a smile.

"Can I take it you are the missing member of the Gibbs team from upstairs?"

"Guilty."

Gibbs walked over to Abby and leaned into her personal space as he addressed her in a commanding way. "Abbs, Lizzie is here for you."

"Aww, Gibbs, you brought me a present?"

"She's your new lab assistant." Gibbs didn't give her any space or escape as her whole face went into a downcast mode.

"Gibbs, why would you do this to me again? You know I don't work well with other people in my space." Abby tried to escape his stance and reach for a stuffed Hippo that was sitting on a shelf just out of her reach.

Gibbs used his body to impede her actions. "This was not my decision. But the upper management believes she would be a good fit with you."

I turned my attention to McGee to see the look of terror that crossed his face as he watched the interaction between the two. It was easy to see that all of the members of this team had a special bond and connection that came from years of working together in close quarters; and it made me wonder if I would ever be able to cross into their world.

"But, Gibbs, my babies?" Abby made a face that looked sad as she cowered under his penetrating gaze.

"Well, one good thing about Lizzie is that she comes with her own Mass Spec."

Abby looked up at Gibbs with surprise in her eyes and then turned to look at me again. "You have your own Mass Spec?"

"I sure do. I call him Spectro Magic." I smiled at her as she stepped out of Gibbs protective circle and came over to inspect me closer.

"What's the first procedure you perform when you receive results from a Forensics test?" Abby rattled off her little test of my skills.

"Check it a second time."

Her eyebrows raised at my accuracy; she then moved her eyes down my body a little until she spotted the bustier peeking out from under my business suit. "I dig your bustier…where did you get it?" She came over to me and ran her fingers over the sweetheart top of my purple bustier.

"Thanks. It's this great little online boutique called the Cheeky Witch. They have all kinds of quality Goth wear."

"And that is where I make my exit. Abbs, get her settled in and find a place to put her Mass Spec." Gibbs leaned over and pressed a quick kiss on Abby's cheek as he passed her on his way out.

"Aye, Aye, Sir." She saluted him in a playful gesture.

"Don't call me, Sir." He then stopped and looked over to me. "And you…good job." He smiled and continued to leave the lab.

"McGee!" Gibbs bellowed as he started out the door to the elevator.

"Boss?"

"With me, Now!"

"I'm on your six, Boss." McGee grabbed his jacket and started to run out the door. "It's was nice meeting you Lizzie."

"You too, McGee." I yelled out to him.

"McGee!"

I heard the sound of the elevator ding as the doors closed. McGee must have just made it on the elevator in time to join Gibbs.

"I've never heard of Cheeky Witch. Is it all Goth wear?" Abby got excited as she went to her computer to pull up the site.

"Yeah, I love their stuff. But I only integrate a few pieces into my wardrobe to kind of throw people off." I walked up to her side as she pulled up the website and started to scroll through new items they had on the site. "I could never pull off your look…it never looks right on me. I think I'm just not meant to be total Goth. But it looks fabulous on you."

"Well, it's not for everyone." She was riveted to the site as she found a few pieces she liked. "Oh, this one is great!"

"Abby, I want to let you know that I completely understand your protectiveness over your lab. I lost quite a few employees at my last place due to my strict guidelines and idiosyncrasies. But I also want to assure you that I will do my best to follow your lead, not touch anything without your permission and learn to work in accordance with your style. I hope to simply be able to enhance your already brilliant work that precedes you."

Abby stopped looking at the Cheeky Witch site and smiled over at me. "I think I'm going to like you. So what kind of instrument is Spectro Magic?"

"He's a hybrid triple quadrupole/linear ion trap mass spec. I know every inch of him." I smile as I think about my baby.

"Nice! My baby is the new 5500 series. Same model just more power. So, where should we put him?" Abby looked around her lab until she found a small counter that was empty underneath the windows that opened onto the street level. "This should work. Do you have him with you?"

"Yeah, he's in my car. I can't carry him by myself."

"No problem, I'll get someone from the Navy Yard to bring him in."

"You'll have to tell them to be careful with him. He's prone to falling apart on me when he gets agitated. Practically molts every time I move him."

Abby laughed as she picked up her cell phone to call the front desk to assign some guards to my baby's moving to his new home. As I take a long look around the basement lab I realize it will take some time gaining access into this group of misfits…but I know already that I like it here and I hop to make it my new home.

-----------------------------------

After two weeks of working on Team Gibbs I am learning the ropes quickly and starting to make a niche of my own. Abby has gone over every inch of her lab with me and explained to me how she works. I took mental notes of her procedures and even asked about areas in which I might be able to help. As we became closer friends she started to tell me what tests she would like to give me to run when we are in the process of a case.

It has been a quiet two weeks. Well, I take that back…there hasn't been any case activity, but there has always been some kind of music blaring in the background of our work each day. At the end of the first week I noticed myself starting to sway to the music and catch the beat with the movement of my hips.

"Ah, you like my music." Abby turned around just in time to see me make a couple of minute sways.

"Well, after a week you start to appreciate its rhythmic qualities. Who is it?"

"Android Lust, they are one of favorites. But I will have to introduce you to the whole collection I have. I always have music on in my lab. I find it helps me to keep moving and to concentrate on the case."

"I'm the same way…just usually a different genre of music." I smile back at her as I hit the strong drum solo with the pounding of my hands on the counter in front of me.

"What kind of music do you listen to?"

"I'm more of an eclectic person when it comes to music. There isn't much that I don't like."

"You rock, Liz." Abby smiled in approval as she came over to check my procedure for analyzing hair particles. "Looks good! I never thought I would say this, but you just might be a good lab assistant."

"Does that mean you won't tie her up Abbs?" Gibbs came into the lab in his usual determined rush with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Gibbs! I would never tie up a lady. Especially one that looks as good as Lizzie."

Gibbs took a look over his shoulder at me and shook his head with a small smirk as he looked over my outfit for the day. I was wearing a very demure outfit. It was a dark green suit that closed with a long line of buttons down the front of my suit jacket and a matching skirt that hugged my curves and ended right at my knees. I topped off the outfit with some fishnet stockings that were held up by a black garter belt.

"Looking very professional today, Lizzie. But you're missing your usual hint of Goth in your outfit." Gibbs asked me in a very matter of fact tone, as if it was a perfectly reasonable observation.

"Umm, not really, its…well, it's hidden." I smiled as his eyebrows rose.

He turned to Abby in the next second. "Abbs."

"Yeah, Boss?"

"Ducky is using this slow time in the office to have everyone catch up on their CPR retraining. I want you and Liz to report to autopsy before the end of the day."

"No problem, Gibbs."

Gibbs smiled at her and then used his hands to sign _my girl_.

I watched with apt attention as they started to have an exchange using sign language.

_How has Liz been working out, Abby?_

_She is great. We work well together._

_Glad to hear it. I would hate to find another assistant bound and gagged. You have such bad luck with assistants Abby._

_Don't think that will happen. She has a good grasp on boundaries and is very cautious of crossing them._

I wondered if I should tell them that I am fluent in sign language. But I decided to stand there and let them have their private conversation in front of me.

_She seems to be a lot like you, Abby, just not as outwardly rooted in the Goth lifestyle as you are._

_She has a little freak in her like all of us. She wears it with pride. It's just hidden beneath the professional exterior._

_What is that supposed to mean?_

_You should see her choice in lingerie. She is kinky through and through._

_Abby that is highly inappropriate._

Abby's eyes got bigger with inflection as she signed, _She's hot, Gibbs. Even you had to have noticed._

"Abby!" Gibbs said her name out loud as a warning for her to watch how far she took the conversation. I had a hard time hiding the smile that was forming on my face and holding in the giggle that wanted to come out at the awkward position she put him in so quickly.

"It's good to see that you are working out, Liz. I hope you prove to be a valuable member of our team." Like always, with those final words he made his retreat out of the lab.

The next week went pretty much like the first. Abby and I became used to each other's presence and started to work together in sync. It got to the point that I could read her actions and figure out what she would want to do next. At times we would even start to dance around the lab in sync as we ran practice tests. It was quite a sight to see.

My outfits started to become a little more risqué and revealing, with a Goth overtone. I became used to Abby's unusual choice in clothing and found that I loved being able to express myself a little more freely around her. I could never go completely Goth, because that's just not me…but I found that I loved putting in one or two items in my wardrobe that helped me assert my femininity and made me feel powerful.

On a Monday morning of my third week I was hanging out in the bull pen with Tony, Ziva, McGee and Abby. I was sipping on a cup of my favorite White Chocolate Mocha Latte as I listened to their morning banter. They cracked me up as they went back and forth with random topics.

"Tony I do not understand your obsession with movies. You're always quoting them and they never make any sense." Ziva was picking on Tony as usual. I think she has a thing for him. The two of them remind me of elementary school kids on the playground pulling on the pigtails of the girl you like

"You wouldn't understand, Ziva. It's a guy thing. There are so many lessons that can be learned in movies. Quotes that will forever make up a part of our society and form the way we live."

"Like what?" Ziva raised her eyebrows to challenge him to come up with some quotes on the spot.

"Okay, how about 'Stella!'?" Tony used his best acting bravado with the Brando accent and hand gestures.

"_A Streetcar Named Desire_, with Marlon Brando." I blurted out the name of the movie without even thinking twice about whether he was asking for an answer.

Tony looked over at me with a little bit of surprise on his face. Then he turned back to Ziva, "How about this one 'I want you to go to your windows, open them up, and yell out as loud as you can "I'm as mad…"

"as Hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" I chimed in with Tony as we both finished the quote at the same time. This time Tony stopped and turned to face me with a scrutinizing look.

"What? What did I do?" I looked him with innocence as I realized that maybe I overstepped my familiarity with them.

"You better watch out, Tony, it looks like you have a challenger for the title of Movie Buff in the office." McGee kept up the lighthearted aspect of the conversation by challenging Tony.

"That will never happen, McGoo. For I am the Movie Trivia King."

"Really? What makes you assume you know more than I do?" I raise my eyebrows at him as I join in on the playful banter.

"You have not proven yourself yet, young Padowan."

"Give me your best shot." I smiled at him as I waited with baited breath to beat him at his own game.

Tony took a deep breath as he stood up from his desk and began to pace in the middle of the bull pen to think about his challenge. All of a sudden he turned quickly to rapidly send off movie questions. "Name all of the actors that have played James Bond?"

"Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig…oh, he is a beautiful man. And wasn't there a Timothy Dalton?"

"How does Hannibal Lector eat his liver?"

"With some flava beans and a nice Chianti."

"Name the Indiana Jones films?"

"Well, there was _Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade,_ and most recently _The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull._"

"Can you name all of the Star Wars films?"

"Hmmm, we start with Episode One: _The Phantom Menace,_ Episode Two: _Attack of the Clones, _Episode Three: _Revenge of the Sith_ …that really was a good one. Then there is the original Star Wars that was titled simply _Star Wars_ during it's first release, but later gained the name Episode Four: _A New Hope, _then there is Episode Five: _The Empire Strikes Back_, and finally Episode Six: _Return of the Jedi_. But you could also include the newest animated Star Wars film _The Clone Wars_, but I find that not even worth mentioning."

Tony squinted his eyes at me before he asked his next question. "What's the first rule of Fight Club?"

"You never talk about Fight Club."

"Who's Keyser Soze?"

"The actor who plays him or the character that plays him?"

"Both?"

"Kevin Spacey plays Keyser Soze, who is played by Verbal Kint."

"You remind me of the Babe."

"What babe?"

"The babe with the power."

"What power?"

"The power of VooDoo."

"Who do?"

"You do."

"Do What?"

"Remind me of the babe."

"Do you have any idea what they are doing, McGee?" Ziva looked over to McGee as Tony and I stayed locked in each other's gaze.

"They lost me awhile ago." McGee shrugged his shoulders.

"Never figured you for a _Labyrinth _fan, Tony." I teased him a little before he continued.

"It's all part of my task to stay informed about movies in the past and present."

"These are too easy…why don't you try giving me a real challenge?"

"Okay, what does Tom Cruise say to Renee Zellweger at the…?"

"That's too easy." I interrupt him before he even finishes the question. "You complete me."

"And I always thought that I would complete you, Liz." Gibbs came striding into the bull pen with his usual coffee.

"Boss. We were just testing Liz's knowledge of movie trivia." Tony was the recipient of one of the famous Gibbs stares that I had heard of so many times. "Which has absolutely nothing to do with the cases we are working on."

Tony turned to go back to his desk as Gibbs put his coffee down on his desk and went into the top drawer to retrieve his sidearm.

"Grab your gear. We have a dead petty officer in a drainage ditch on Washington Avenue." Gibbs barked the order like he was ordering his next meal at a restaurant…there was such ease, familiarity, and yet authority in him.

I watched in fascination as McGee, Tony and Ziva all jumped to attention and started moving in a flurry of movements to get their sidearms, badges, and backpacks full of their gear. In just a few seconds Gibbs was on the move again with all three of them following him to the elevator.

Abby jumped up from her spot on McGee's desk, "Well, that's our cue. We need to go prepare the lab to receive the evidence. As soon as it gets here we have to start analyzing it."

"Just let me know what you want me to do and I will follow." I jumped to attention and followed Abby to the elevator to head down to the basement to set up the lab. It looked like I was finally getting the chance to work my first federal case.

_**TBC…**_

A/N: Thank you for reading my first attempt at an NCIS story. I don't know where this one is going because it all started with the idea of a character similar to Abby, but not quite as eccentric with the task of integrating herself into their team. I would love any advice, suggestions, or critical reviews. Either way, Please Review…it inspires me to write.


	2. Getting Stuck

**Spectro Magic**

Chapter 2: Getting Stuck

Abby and I started working furiously to prepare the lab to receive evidence as soon as we got down to the basement. We worked together in one accord without one little blip getting in the way of our routine. It didn't take long for the first shipment of evidence to hit the lab.

We were sent an email from McGee that contained photos of the crime scene; particularly a few pictures of some nearby tire tracks. As soon as the pictures went up on the plasma I told Abby that I would begin the analysis of the tire tracks to see if I could find a tire match.

Abby continued to look closely at the pictures for a minute as I started to transfer the tire track pictures to my computer.

"Liz, take a look at this."

I turned from my work station to walk over to her side. "What am I looking at?"

"These pictures of the crime scene. Do you see something unusual in these photos over here?"

I looked closely at the photos she pointed out and immediately saw a blurred shadow on the far right corner of the shots. It looked like there was some unusual substance on a curb about twenty feet from the immediate crime scene. "It looks like something was on that curb. It's hard to tell in this photo…but it almost looks as though it's recently been painted?"

"Bingo! I knew you would see it. I need to call McGee." Abby hit the speaker phone button in front of her and hit a speed dial number for McGee's cell phone.

"McGee." McGee answered.

"McGee, I need you to check something out before you leave the crime scene."

"Did you find something already, Abbs?"

"Liz and I think we see something sketchy on the far north curb of the street photos that you sent me. It almost looks like someone recently spray painted the curb."

"Let me take a look." I heard the sound of McGee walking around to find the curb that was in question. "You're right…this curb was spray painted. It's dark red."

"That's not normal for street regulations. Someone might have used the spray paint to cover up something. Can you take some scrapings of the paint for me?"

"Will do, Abbs." McGee could be heard yelling over some people to get Tony's attention to show him the new find. "We are sending you the vic's clothing and some foreign objects that were found in the vicinity. I also have the vic's cell phone number. I'll send it to you to see if you can trace his records."

"Great. I'm out, McGee." Abby then pressed the speaker button to hang up the phone.

Just as I got over to my work station to continue my work on the tire tracks the lights went out and all of the machines went down. I looked up to see the glow of the day streaming through the tall windows on one side of the lab.

"What just happened?"

"It's looks like we are having power problems. Don't worry we have a back-up generator that should kick in soon. This happened one time before right in the middle of all of my tests. I was furious…I had to redo them all. Gibbs is never one to understand the loss of power as a good excuse for late results." Abby turned around at her work station and leaned against the counter as she waited for the generator to boot up.

The silence in the lab was deafening without her music playing in the background. "I've been meaning to ask you about Gibbs."

"What would you like to know? He's one of the most complicated guys I've ever known, and also the most loyal. He's a conundrum mixed up into a whirlwind of mystery." Abby took a seat on her stool as she waited for my questions.

"Well, I just noticed that he has a unique relationship with you. He brings you caf-pows almost every time he comes down to check on you, and then there is the affection he shows?"

"Gibbs is very affectionate to the people that he holds dear in his life. He may not be the best at relationships when it comes to women…but he knows how to be the best friend you will ever have." Abby smiled at me as she answered.

"This may be overstepping my boundaries here, but do you and Gibbs have any kind of relationship going on?" I voiced my question with trepidation as I realized I may be getting into forbidden territory.

"Gibbs and me? No, that will never happen. He protects me like a father would his child. I love him with all my heart, and I'm sure he loves me. But if there was every going to be anything between us it would have happened a long time ago."

"I just wondered. With the way he always kisses you on the cheek and he always stands very close to you when talking to you. It seemed intimate. Not to mention you calling him your 'silver fox' all the time."

Abby laughed at my comment. "Oh, Gibbs is a god among men. And I'm not saying that he's not one hot specimen of manliness. But I fear ever trying to move into anything more with him. He's had three divorces and been married four times."

"He's still married, then?" My brow crinkled with confusion.

"No, his first wife and only daughter were killed in a car crash while he was deployed in Iraq during Desert Storm."

"Oh my God, that's horrible." I looked off to the side in thought as I shrugged my shoulders. "It also explains a lot. Why did he marry so many times after that kind of loss in his life?"

"My theory is that it's the usual story of a man not completely healing from the wound and trying to replace them with someone new. Of course it never works out because in the end they can never be Shannon." Abby looked sad as she diverted her eyes thinking about the man in her life that is like a father to her. "He also has a weakness for redheads. So you better watch yourself, Liz."

"Abby I don't remember ever giving you permission to discuss my love life." Gibbs startled us both as he swooped into the room.

"More like lack of it." Abby mumbled.

"Abby!"

"Gibbs, I don't have anything for you…the power's out. I'm waiting for the generator to kick in."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows at her in a manner that could only mean that he doesn't accept that as an excuse. He then walked right over to stand in front of her to sign.

_Do not discuss my personal life without my permission, Abby._

_I didn't mean to upset you Gibbs. She asked about you and me._

Gibbs looked confused for a second at Abby. It was then that I decided to make it known to them that I understood everything they were saying. I knew if I waited much longer they would be upset when it finally did come out. I walked over to the pair and got their attention as I began to sign.

_You know it's considered rude to talk about people when they're standing right in front of you._

Abby's eyebrows shot up with surprise at my actions and went completely silent.

"You understand sign language?" Gibbs looked at me with his usual stance of authority and skepticism that he addressed people with that unsettled him.

"I've known for years. One of my nieces was born deaf. All of us in the family learned in order to raise her in an environment that was connected to her all of the time."

Gibbs nodded in confirmation of my explanation and signed to me, _you should have told us._

_I just did._

He smirked as he signed _Touché._

"Abbs, as soon as these lights come on I want you processing the evidence. The petty officer was slashed in military execution style. This could be a very sensitive case if it leads us back to our own armed forces."

Abby nodded, "I'm on it, Boss man."

Just then the lights came on and the machines in the lab started to come to life with beeps and clicks. I noticed that the lights were still dimmed lower than the usual illumination.

Gibbs looked up at the ceiling lights, "It looks like we are on emergency generators. Can you still work the evidence?"

"Shouldn't be a problem."

"Good, get it done."

I watched him as he walked out of the lab to catch the elevator. I was startled out of my stupor as I heard him yell from the elevator, "Get on it, Liz!"

Abby chuckled as I quickly turned back to my workstation and furiously started going over the tires again.

------------------------------------

Forty minutes later I had tracked down the tire tread to a certain brand that was made for Enterprise Rent-a-Car for '08 Toyota Solaras. I took that information to run a search through the Enterprise database for Toyota Solaras in the D.C. area that were rented in the last week. According to Ducky the vic was killed in the last twenty-four hours.

My search came back with only four vehicles that matched those criteria. Just as I hit print on the list of all four vehicles the elevator dinged with the announcement of a visitor.

Because of where my workstation is I am able to see the door to the lab. I noticed as Gibbs walked into the lab carrying a caf-pow and coffee. He quietly walked over to me and handed me the coffee. "White Chocolate Mocha, right?"

I was shocked as I took the coffee from him. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"It's my job to be observant."

Abby heard our exchange and turned around just in time to receive the caf-pow that Gibbs had for her. "Gibbs you are just in time. It always amazes me how you can read my mind…it's like we're connected on a level that is unknown to normal man…"

"Abbs!" Gibbs got her attention with one word.

"Right, I have been working on the blood stains on the vic's clothing. So far all of it belongs to him; no surprise there. But I did find an orange thread embedded in the vic's shoes. I am running an analysis on it to see if I can track the dye. It might be from the killer."

"Good job, Abbs. The tires?" Gibbs looked at her again to get the usual answers that she rattles off to him.

"Liz is working on that." Abby pointed over to me to continue.

"I tracked the tire treads to a specific brand of tire that is manufactured for the Enterprise Rental company for their 2008 Toyota Solaras. I ran the Solaras that were rented in the D.C. area in the last week and came up with four. I just printed out the results of where all of those cars can be found, including the customers that rented them during the last week." I handed him the paper as he glanced over the results I found.

He then looked up and smiled as he signed, _Good job, Liz. Keep it up._

I just smiled in return as he turned to leave just as fast as he came.

"You're fitting right in, Liz. You've already managed to impress Gibbs, and that is very hard to do. You keep going at this pace, and the two of us will be an unstoppable team." Abby sucked on her caf-pow as she went back to her workstation.

"You want me to work on the paint shavings that McGee got from our mystery curb?" I cleared the work that I had just finished off of my screen as I prepared for my next task.

"Yeah, it's in evidence bag ten. Run it against any kind of paint brands sold in the United States, and then analyze it for any additional components hidden in the substance."

"On it." I put on a fresh pair of latex gloves and found evidence bag ten to begin my work on the paint chips.

We worked together in silence for two hours straight, only talking at times to confirm our results with each other. I had put the paint chips in Spectro Magic to be analyzed, and had to wait about three hours before any conclusive results were found.

I loved how we started finishing each other's sentences in our work, and even would use each other to check our results.

I hit a stopping point just as Gibbs and McGee came into the lab.

"Abby, we have the four rental cars in our garage. We need you to go over them for any forensic evidence you can find that will tie our vic to the car." Gibbs distracted her with his command.

"I would normally love to help you Gibbs, but I'm right in the middle of tracking our petty officer's cell phone activity. I keep getting blocked when I send out a request for his recently missed calls." Just as she said that her computer beeped loudly and came up with a fatal error. "Now, what!?" Abby pounded on her keyboard frantically as her frustration grew.

"McGee!" Gibbs barked out.

"Yeah, Boss?"

"Stay here and help Abby with her cell phone problems. Lizzie," he pointed to me as he started to move again, "grab your gear and follow me. You will have to collect the evidence." I simply nodded as I bent over to find my backpack under my work station.

As I stood up again I noticed that Gibbs was already out in the hall pushing the button on the elevator. I quickly ran over to his side just as the doors opened and we both got in. He pressed the button for the ground level that would lead us out to the garage.

"Tony and Ziva are already going over the trunks to see if they can find any traces of blood." Gibbs looked up to the top of the elevator door as he briefed me on the status of the car searches.

"Have they all been recently cleaned by the rental company?"

"All except one. But if it's our killer's car you can be sure that he already cleaned it out."

Just then I heard a loud bang as the elevator car came to an abrupt stop. I lurched forward as I tried to catch myself from falling down. I felt strong hands grasp my waist and upper arm to steady me in place. Once I had my body under control again I looked up just in time to see the lights go out completely. It was pitch black dark in the elevator.

I tried to move to stand on my own and remove myself from Gibbs's hold. Mistaking how close he was standing to me I accidentally ran right into him as one of my hands hit him in the gut.

"Mmmpff," Gibbs grunted in reaction to my mistake.

"I'm so sorry, Gibbs, I didn't realize you were that close to me." There was fear in my voice as I tried to gain control of my situation again.

"It's okay, Liz. Rule number four: never say you're sorry. It's a sign of weakness."

My eyes started to adjust to the darkness a little and I was able to see the outline of him standing in front of me. Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and hit a speed dial on his phone. In the silence I could hear the exchange that happened on the phone.

"_DiNozzo."_

"Have we lost power completely?" Gibbs didn't even announce who he was before he went into investigative mode.

"_We are in the dark here, Boss. Literally."_ Just then the small buttons for the floors in the building lit up on the elevator. _"Whoa. We just got back the emergency power, Boss."_

Gibbs hit the button on the elevator for the ground floor again to no avail. The button didn't even register with a ding. "DiNozzo let the building maintenance staff know that Lizzie and I are stuck in the elevator. Tell them I want them to fix it now!" Gibbs snapped his cell phone closed and sighed heavily in defeat.

"It looks like we are stuck for awhile, Liz. You might as well put your gear down." Gibbs grabbed the hand rail on the back of the elevator and slid down to a sitting position in the back corner of the elevator.

I put all my gear down and took a seat against the middle of the back wall of the elevator. In order to stay modest in my suit skirt I had to put my legs straight out in front of my body and cross my ankles.

"Damn!" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"Problem?" Gibbs looked over at me with amusement on his face at my outburst.

"I just remembered that I was running the paint chips from that curb in my Mass Spec. I may have lost hours of work. I need to call Abby." I rifled through my bag for a second before I found my government issued flip phone. With a few punches I was able to get Abby on the phone.

"Abby, here." She was still as hyper as ever.

"Abby, I need you to check on Spectro Magic. I had those paint chips running in him when we lost full power again."

"Oh, no bueno. Let me check." I heard the sound of her rolling over to my side of the lab and press a few buttons on Spectro. "It looks all good here, Liz. I guess he wasn't out long enough to cause any real interruptions."

"That's good. I hate to ask this of you, but can you run a second sample of the paint chips in your Mass Spec? I want to confirm any results I get from Spectro with yours just in case the power outage did cause any problems in the analysis."

"Sure will. Have you found anything on the cars yet?" Abby was typing in the background.

"No, Gibbs and I are stuck in the elevator. I guess the emergency generator isn't supporting the elevator anymore."

"Wow, if you wanted to be alone with Gibbs you should have just asked, Liz." I blushed slightly as she teased me.

"Abbs!" Gibbs called her name to stop her.

"Can he hear me?" Abby asked me over the phone.

"Yeah." I weakly reply as I wait for the humiliation to hit.

"Get back to work Abby." Gibbs called over to me in order to get her attention. "Call me when you have something."

I pulled the phone away from my ear as Abby started to talk louder for Gibbs to hear. "You can't do anything with it in the elevator, Gibbs."

"What!?" Gibbs began to get agitated at her.

"I mean, I'm on it, Boss." Abby clicked off the phone with that last statement. I flipped my phone closed and put it away in the front pocket of my bag. The two of us sat there in silence for a couple of minutes before Gibbs finally gave in and attempted to make small talk.

"How have you adjusted to the job?" Gibbs looked forward the whole time he talked to me, not looking at me directly.

"I am loving it here. Everyone on Team Gibbs is great and they have all been so helpful whenever I have any questions."

"DiNozzo doesn't bother you with his flirtations? Cause he tends to come off rather strong with fresh meat."

"No, he's fine. I can take care of guys like him. Besides, I've really enjoyed bantering with him and Ziva in the mornings; especially when I can put him to shame in movie trivia."

"Well, if you ever need anything, I want you to come to me. I tell all of my team members that I am here for their protection, counsel, and well-being. I may come off as callous and tough, but I care about all of my team members as if they were my own family."

"Oh, I know." I feel his gaze move over to me as I continue to look forward. "Abby talks about you all the time. She seems to think that you are invincible." I smile as I think about the affection she has for Gibbs. I can feel him still looking at me as he waits for me to continue. "I hope she didn't upset you by telling me about your past relationships. It was my fault…I asked her about the two of you."

"Me and Abby?"

I finally turned my head to look at him as I continued to talk. "Yeah, I was just curious about you two. You have this connection…a kind of familiarity that I'm not used to seeing in the workplace. I just thought that the two of you might be…well, I mean even if you aren't, it didn't mean that you hadn't…I mean, well, I…"

"Liz, it's best to stop while you're ahead." Gibbs smiled at me as I sighed and looked down to the floor of the elevator.

"Abby and I have a distinctive relationship. From the first time I met her I knew she needed to be protected. That girl can get herself into a lot of trouble." He smiled to himself as he thought about Abby. "Although she can definitely take care of herself when she needs to.

"Abby and I flirt, tease each other, and look after each other all the time. But when it comes down to it…I think of her like I would my own daughter."

"That's funny. She said the same thing about you. Well, I mean that she thinks of you like a father."

Gibbs smirked, "Yeah, she's my very hot, enticing daughter; but we won't even go into the implications of that statement."

I laughed out loud at him just as his cell phone began to ring. He fished it out of his pocket before flipping it open.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"_Gibbs you will never believe what I got for you." _I could hear Abby's voice going a mile a minute in the phone._ "Liz's Mass Spec started singing to me with results. It seems that our paint is a special blend made exclusively for military bases. I managed to find out the certain dyes that are being used to track down the exact color and brand. It's a military brand issue color 'Red Brick'. But the interesting part is the appearance of a foreign substance in the paint…you'll never guess what it is."_

"Blood." Gibbs casually answered her.

"_Yeah, that's amazing Gibbs. I swear you have to have some kind of psychic powers that are…"_

"Abbs!" Gibbs stopped her train of thought and got her on track with one word.

"_There are two different people coming up in the blood found here. I ran them against our petty officer and matched one to him. But I'm still running the second through our databases to try and find a match."_

"Have you been able to run it against any of the persons listed in the car rental findings?" I interjected my own thoughts as I listened to their conversation.

Gibbs raised his eyebrows at me silently.

"_That's a great idea, Liz. I'll see if I can find any information on them in our files."_ Abby's voice lit up with the new task.

"Abby, I want you to have Tony and Ziva see if any of our car renters have any previous military experience or close family relations in the military. This job was definitely done by a marine…the wound was too specific to the training that is given in the core." Gibbs commanded his team even from the inside of an elevator, and it impressed me.

"_Will do, Gibbs."_ Both of them clicked off their phones at the same time.

"Do you think it's that easy?" I asked.

"It's never that easy." Gibbs flipped open his phone a second time and hit another speed dial.

"_Jethro, I hear you are indisposed."_ The sound of Ducky's voice came through the phone.

"What can I say, I like the elevators here. What have you got for me, Duck?"

"_Not much at this time. I have been able to ascertain the time of death to be around 9:15 p.m. last night. I can also state with some accuracy that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. I found some fragments embedded in his skull that may be from the murder weapon. I sent them to Abby to run some tests on them."_

"Can we track down the type of knife that made the wounds on his abdomen?"

"_I can do my best to rule out some major brands…but it will be hard to tell with any real accuracy what type of blade did the deed, so to speak."_

"What if you assume it's a military issue weapon, specifically Marine?"

"_That would cut down my search considerably. Do we have any reason to believe that our killer is in the military?"_

"The spray paint used to cover the victim's blood on the curb was military issue, the wound is a technique used by marine ops, and our rental car tire tracks on the scene were taken from cars all rented near a military base."

"_Well, I would say that does narrow it down. I'll see what I can find for you."_

"Thanks, Ducky."

"_Jethro, is it true that you are stuck in the elevator with our young Ms. Brandle?"_

"Yes, Ducky, I am."

"_I do hope you are being nice to her. I have been observing her since she has been here and I think she has a little crush on…"_

"Ducky! She can hear everything you're saying."

"_Oh, I do apologize, Elizabeth."_ Ducky's voice got a little louder through the phone as he spoke to me.

"No apology needed, Ducky." I called over to Gibbs's phone as I sat next to him.

"_She is a lovely young lady, isn't she Jethro?"_

"Yes, Ducky, she is. Do you have anything else for me?"

"_Not at this time."_

"Alright, let me know if you find anything." Gibbs hung up and put his phone back in his trouser pocket.

"He's right you know." I begin our conversation again as if we never stopped.

"Ducky usually is right. He's the best medical examiner in the industry."

"No, I meant about what he said concerning me." I looked over at Gibbs to gage his reaction.

Gibbs looked over at me with a look I had not seen from him yet. He seemed to search me for answers as he searched his mind for words. "Rule number twelve: never date a co-worker."

"Are all these rules of yours self-imposed?"

"They're just a smart guideline." He looked away from me and stared at the far wall in front of him. "Besides, there is a lot you don't know about me, Liz."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that. I'm not naïve enough to think that you are simply the man that you portray every day at work." I search his face to see if I am getting through to him at all. "Gibbs, you have got to be the most complicated man I have ever come into contact with…but for some reason I find myself drawn to finding out more."

"It's not a good idea, Lizzie. No good can come of that."

Just then the lights came on full blast in the elevator and the sound of the elevator moving whirred to life. I looked up to see the floors start to ding to life again as I felt the car move. Gibbs got up off of the floor and extended his hand to help me off of the floor. I used his hand to pull myself off of the ground and grabbed my bag with all of my gear in it.

I was about to say something to him to let him know that I wasn't going to push him on this subject. I didn't want to put us in an awkward situation when I had to keep working with him everyday, for long hours. But as soon as I opened my mouth to talk the elevator doors opened up to the first floor of the building. Tony was standing outside of the elevator with a big smile on his face.

"Boss! It's good to have you back. Lizzie, you were missed as well."

"DiNozzo, do we have full power back?" Gibbs exited the elevator with his usual determination as I followed him with Tony by my side.

"Yeah, Boss. It seems that one of the labs on the east side of the building blew the fuses with some geek top secret experiment. Needless to say, they aren't going to try it again."

"How far have you and Ziva gotten on the cars?"

"We weren't able to find anything in any of the cars to tie them to this case. But Ziva found out that two of the renters on that list are currently serving in the Marines."

"Good, Tony take Lizzie over to the garage to go over the cars for any forensic evidence. Then tell Ziva I want to see her information about the renters that she has." Gibbs turned and left as quickly as he always does, leaving me standing with Tony.

Tony looked over to me, "Well, I guess I better get you to the garage."

"Thanks." I began to follow Tony through the building to a secure warehouse.

"I have to ask…what did you and the Boss talk about while you were stuck in that elevator?" Tony asked me while he continued to lead the way to the garage.

"Well, we mainly discussed the case."

Tony stopped in his tracks and turned on me, "You have got to be kidding."

"You know him, Tony. He spent most of the time calling everyone and keeping the case running along."

He huffed and turned around to continue leading me. "One of these days I'm going to have to teach the Boss man about taking advantage of the opportunities presented to him."

"What's that supposed to mean, DiNozzo?" I insert a little sarcasm in my voice to tease him.

"It's just that Gibbs would be a lot more relaxed if he would just…"

"Just what? Get some?" I stop and put my hands on my hips to show my dissatisfaction with him.

"Not my words…yours."

"You're treading on thin ice, DiNozzo."

Tony raised his eyebrows at me, "Now you are sounding like Gibbs."

"I'll take that as a compliment." I then walked past him to the door that he was leading me to. I waited for him to scan his eye to let me into the building.

"Ring me if you need anything." Tony made sure I got in okay and turned on the lights for me before he left to find Ziva.

I look around the garage to take in the four cars that were torn apart and organized into four groups. "Alright. Back to work."

-----------------------------------

A/N: Another chapter in the lives of the NCIS team. I hope you all enjoyed it. Again, comments, concerns, and reviews are all appreciated. Please let me know what you think. Like I said before, reviews inspire me to write.


	3. Part of the Team

**Spectro Magic**

A/N: I want to thank the people that have taken the time to review my first two chapters. I am glad that everyone is enjoying the Lizzie character. I hope you will all continue to enjoy my venture into the NCIS world.

Chapter 3: Part of the Team

It took me over three hours to go through the first two cars. They were very clean and had little to no evidence that was viable to be taken and documented for future testing. I was just about to start on the third car when the door to the garage opened. Abby was dressed in the same red coveralls that I had on with NCIS written across the back in white lettering.

"I finally got all of that phone stuff worked out and everything running in the instruments for our tests. I thought I would come down and see if I can help you finish with these cars." Abby bounced into the room with her usual enthusiasm.

"I love you, girl. I have finished these two," I point to the two cars on the left side of the room, "I am just about to start going over this one here. If you want to work on the last one on the right side that would be great."

"No problemo, chick-a-dee." Abby grabbed some latex gloves and started sweeping the final car on the outside for any unusual markings.

"So, have you found anything yet to help move this case along?" I bent over to check out the trunk of the car I was working on as I asked her about the process of the evidence.

"Not really. His phone records showed a number of calls to one of his superior officers in the last five days. Gibbs asked Ziva and Tony to bring him in for questioning."

"Oh, now that should be interesting. I hear that Gibbs is one of the best at interrogations." I get out of the trunk to grab a flashlight to use on the inner crevices.

"He's the Mac daddy of interrogators. Tony said that he one time made a 300 pound drill instructor cry."

"That's hilarious. I'll have to watch him in action sometime."

"Oh, definitely. We all take turns witnessing his interrogations. You learn a lot about the human psyche when you watch how he manipulates people."

Just then I froze as I came across a small ripped off piece of fabric wedged up in the top, back corner of the trunk. I flashed the light up to check that I wasn't seeing things and got out of the trunk to get my tweezers.

"Abbs, I think I got something in this trunk."

Abby took off her gloves and quickly grabbed a second pair before coming over to assist me. "What ya got?"

"I found a small scrap of fabric that doesn't belong to the standard trunk interior. I found some fabrics in the other two trunks that I think are all upholstery ripped from luggage. But this is a bright orange."

"Orange? Are you sure about that?" Abby grabbed an evidence bag and came over to stand behind me.

"Here, you check it." I lifted the fabric from the trunk and dropped it into the evidence bag she had poised behind me.

"Oh, baby, I think you just blew this case wide open!" Abby scrutinized the orange fabric in the light and used her marker to detail the collection of it on the bag. "Do you remember the orange thread that I told Gibbs about on the bottom of our vic's shoes?"

"Yeah, did you ever track it down?" I popped out of the trunk and went to stand by Abby to get a closer look at our new evidence.

"Sure did! It's a special cotton blend that was dyed orange using a highly sought after dye process used in the Far East. So, either our petty officer has recently been to the Far East, or he was around a place that has a lot of imported objects."

"It couldn't just be some kind of souvenir or decoration from a Chinese restaurant?"

Abby looked over at me and smiled. "I love how your mind works. You're specific, just like me." She put the evidence down in our box. "I asked myself the same thing. But, I was able to track the specific dye lot of the thread and this fabric was not only manufactured in the Far East, but it was made in a high end factory that makes hand carved furniture for royalty and celebrities. It's based in Beijing.

"I called the factory and got a hold of someone that could speak English. They assured me that their products are quality, high-end merchandise that not everyone can get their hands on. They usually only produce merchandise according to the demand they get from important people in their country."

"Wow! I'm impressed Abbs. So our petty officer might be involved in something that is a little underground." I grab my flashlight and go to start inspecting the inside of the car. "Was our petty officer ever stationed anywhere near the factory that you contacted?"

"Brilliant, Lizzie! I can't believe that slipped by me. Here, let me finish this car for you. If I'm correct this car will be linked to our victim once we track this fabric to the thread found on his shoe. I want you to take this new evidence to the lab and start the testing on it. Also, call someone from Team Gibbs to see if they can track down the petty officer's service record and any instances of serving near the factory."

"Are you sure about that Abby? You are the one that tracked down the thread on the vic's shoe…shouldn't you do the testing on this?" I held up the bag containing our newest lead.

"You have proven yourself, Liz. I trust you to take this one. Don't worry, I'll have this car swiped clean in no time." Abby smiled and put on a new pair of latex gloves before she went to work on the car.

I grabbed the evidence that we had so far and went to leave the garage. "Umm…Abby, I can't get out."

Abby looked up and saw me standing at the elevator waiting for someone to scan their eye to let me out. "Oops, I forgot. Here, let me help you." Abby ran over to the elevator and scanned her eye to push the button. "We'll have to remember to get you clearance in these areas."

"Thanks." When the elevator door opened I hit the ground floor to make my way over to the lab.

--------------------------------------

A little over an hour later I hear the ding of the elevator and look up to see Gibbs striding in with purpose. As soon as he entered he stopped and quirked his head slightly at the music playing in the room. "What happened to Android Lust?" He looks over at me with confusion written on his features.

"Oh, well, Abby is working in the garage on the last of the cars, so I decided to try some of my music to help me focus."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows and came over to stand beside me. "So, what is this?"

"Chopin, Noturne No. 2 in E Flat." I beam up at him with assurance.

"Lizzie, I mean the evidence." He points to the plasma that has my orange fabric enlarged on it.

"Oh, that, well it's a piece of orange fabric that was found in the trunk of one of our cars. I am trying to match it to the orange thread that was found embedded in the petty officer's shoe."

Gibbs nodded as he examined the new evidence. "How common is this fabric?"

"Well, as I'm sure Abby already told you, it's a very rare dye lot that is only produced in the Far East…Beijing to be precise. Did Tony and Ziva ever track down if our petty officer was ever stationed there?"

"They did. He served in Beijing for seven months last year." Gibbs came back to stand right next to me. I could feel the heat of his body radiating next to mine as he continued to converse about the case. "Could he have picked up this fabric while he was there?"

"Not unless he was hanging around celebrities and royalty. This stuff is hard to come by for the common man. I'm thinking that he was sent to Beijing to make a contact in some kind of underground trade."

Gibbs looked at me closely and with that look that said he was on to something. You could see his mind running a mile a minute. "Pull up the petty officer's service file."

I clicked on the keyboard as I accessed the network files that were for Team Gibbs and found the files on our victim. "Here you go."

Gibbs quickly scanned over the service record looking for clues. "It says that he was assigned to Beijing for training purposes. The order was signed by his superior, a Lt. Charles Nelson."

"Nelson?" I turned in place and quickly ran to my work station to look up my previous work.

"What have you got, Liz?" Gibbs followed me to the other side of the lab and waited for my answer.

I typed as fast as I could to pull up the results of my previous tire track search. "Just as I thought. Lt. Nelson was the one who rented the Toyota Solara that had this fabric in it." I smiled brightly as soon as I realized that I had found the connection.

Gibbs flipped open his phone and dialed quickly. "DiNozzo. You and Ziva bring in Lt. Nelson again." Without any preamble or cordiality he flipped the phone closed. He then smiled at me, "Good job." It was then that he completely surprised me as he leaned in to give me a quick kiss on my cheek. "Match that fabric." Before I recovered from my shock he was already in the elevator and gone.

Not long after his departure Spectro Magic started chirping at me. I turned to find out what he had. "Oh, baby, you are just a little late with that information." I pulled up the analysis of the orange fabric and found it was a positive match to the orange thread found on our vic's shoe. Apparently our petty officer spent some time in that trunk.

--------------------------------

The team worked fast in finding and pulling in Lt. Nelson. I printed out the results from the fabric match and brought them up to the interrogation room. I went into the viewing room to see Tony and McGee watching Lt. Nelson sitting in the room by himself. He was sitting up with authority and arrogance as he waited for someone to come in.

"Hey guys, I got something for the Boss man." I handed McGee the results folder I have from the fabric tests. "It seems that the fabric found in Lt. Nelson's rental car and on the bottom of the petty officer's shoe is a positive match."

"Yes, that's what we needed." Tony grabbed the folder and left the room quickly.

"He's going to take credit for your work." McGee smiled as he watched Tony leave the room. "Ziva found some bank transactions that were routed through a Beijing bank that seem to attach Lt. Nelson and Petty Officer Sharp in an underground cargo trade dealing in luxury Chinese furniture and artifacts."

"It truly amazes me how well all of you work together. I've never seen such teamwork in an investigation. All of you brainstorm and work off of each other to solve your case." I take a stand next to McGee and turn to face the interrogation room to watch as Gibbs enters the room.

"Here's where it gets good." McGee points to Gibbs.

"_So, you want to tell me again what you were doing last night around 9:00pm?" Gibbs stands behind Nelson just to the side to look over his shoulder._

"_I told you guys already, I was in my house. I spent the whole night by myself." Nelson gestured as he spoke and talked toward the table. "This is the second time you have brought me in here in one day. This is getting tiresome and I do have a job to do."_

"_Don't worry about that." Gibbs walked around to the front of the table and laid out a picture of Petty Officer Sharp from autopsy. "Did you know anything about Petty Officer Sharp's activities last night?"_

"_No." _

My eyes widened as I noticed the slight inflection in the Lt.'s eyes that was a sign of fear. "McGee did you see that?"

"Sure did. I don't think it got by Gibbs either."

"_You want to tell me about your transactions is Beijing?" Gibbs backed away from the table and leaned against the mirrored wall._

"_I don't know what you're talking about. I have had a few men stationed there for training purposes…but that's it."_

"_Really, so these bank accounts with your name on them don't belong to you?" Gibbs pulled out another paper that listed the bank account records and set them on top of the picture of Sharp._

"_Okay, look none of that was my idea. I was just the middle man. I was told to keep my mouth shut and assign go to guys in the area and cover for their presence there; and in return I would got a percentage of the profits. It was harmless."_

"_Well, it wasn't harmless for Petty Officer Sharp. Did he do something wrong? Maybe he threatened to expose your little side business?"_

"_That's not what happened." Nelson showed his weakness as he slipped up._

"_You want to know what I think happened, Lt. Nelson? I think you rented a Solara just outside of the military base, clubbed Officer Sharp over the head and put him in the trunk of the car before you took him out to Washington Avenue and cut him execution style to send a message to any of the other guys you have working for you that you don't negotiate with threats." Gibbs got even closer as his voice began to rise with each word. "But you were sloppy…Sharp got a little too close to your merchandise before he was killed."_

"_No," Nelson began shaking his head, "No, I didn't do anything."_

"_What do you know, Lt.?" Gibbs leaned over the table to get in Nelson's face._

I was floored when I saw the intensity on Gibbs's face. He looked every bit the Marine that he was when he served as a sniper. It was a sight that I had yet to see from Gibbs and it was hot.

"_They just wanted to talk to him?"_

"_Who?"_

"_I don't know."_

"_Who!!?" Gibbs slammed his hand down on the table making the Lt. jump a little in his chair._

"_I don't know their names. I get anonymous calls on my cell phone that tell me when they need contacts and what cities to place them in. They sent me a text two days ago saying that they needed to talk to Sharp. They made me promise to have him posted outside of the base by 6:00pm last night." Nelson broke eye contact with Gibbs and searched his hands for answers. "They never said anything about killing him. They said they just wanted to talk."_

"_Well, it looks like they lied." Gibbs looked disgusted as he grabbed his papers and left the interrogation room._

A few seconds later he came into the viewing room to find us watching Lt. Nelson.

"McGee, book him for the black market activities that we have confirmed. Then I want you to look into his cell phone records and see if you can track the owner of the anonymous calls he's getting."

"On it, Boss." McGee quickly left the viewing room to get to work.

"You were instrumental in getting us a break in this case, Lizzie. You're a hard worker, and proving to be a great asset to the team." Gibbs stood a few feet away from me as he addressed me in his usual professional manner.

"Thank you. I hope to continue to help in any way I can."

"You got anything new for me?"

"No, I had just brought up the results from the fabric swatch when I saw Lt. Nelson waiting to be interrogated. I wanted to take the opportunity to watch the infamous Leroy Jethro Gibbs in action."

"Has Abby finished the evidence sweep of the rental cars?" Gibbs changed the subject as he went to leave the viewing room.

I followed him out as I answered, "I was just about to go check on her. But I can't get into the garage on my own yet."

Gibbs looked at me with a puzzled expression on his face.

"The scanner doesn't like my eyes." I point to my left eye as I say this.

"That's too bad, they're such pretty eyes." Without hesitating a second he turns to leave again. "Follow me, I'll let you in."

"On your six."

I must have thrown him off with my use of the team's lingo, cause he turned slightly to look at me one more time before he smirked to himself and continued to the garage.

-------------------------------------------

Abby and I continued to work into the night as we gathered as much information as we could on the case. Abby found a button that had fallen into the front passenger seat of the rental car Lt. Nelson rented during her sweep. Once we were back at the lab we both went over the uniform that our vic was in when he was killed. She was able to match the button to the military fatigues that he was wearing.

Abby's newest discovery put Petty Officer Sharp in the rental car with Lt. Nelson on the night of his murder. So now we just had to find out how Sharp got from the car to the side of the road with his gut sliced open.

We pulled an all-nighter as we worked the evidence over and over again looking for new angles. Around 3am I felt myself losing the fight to stay awake. I must have dozed off, because at 4am I was pulled out of my slumber by the smell of fresh coffee in the lab.

"Coffee," I blurted the word out softly as I opened my eyes to the sight of Gibbs holding a cup on my favorite White Chocolate Mocha.

Gibbs smiled as he handed the cup to me. "What are the two of you doing here so early?"

I grasped the warm java in my hands and took a tantalizing whiff of its sweet aroma before I answered him. "We pulled an all-nighter. But I think we lost the battle to stay awake."

Gibbs picked up the caf-pow that he had brought for Abby and went over to her body that was slumped over, face forward, on her desk. He leaned in very close to her and used his nose to nuzzle her neck just under her pigtails. I laughed softly as Abby unconsciously swung her hand to shoo away the annoyance. Gibbs then went in on the other side of her neck and this time took a large sniff to get her attention.

Abby jumped awake in her seat as she slapped at the thing around her neck. Gibbs was faster than her and caught her hand just at her wrist.

"Oh, Gibbs. You shouldn't do that to me when I'm asleep." Abby looked at him to see him holding her morning caf-pow. He smiled at her and handed her the cup. "But I forgive you."

"So, can I assume you have some groundbreaking news for me concerning this case since my two favorite agents were on it all night?"

"Give me a sec to go over what we have." Abby immediately started typing away as she went over all of the new finds we had worked on in the night.

I pulled up the DNA analysis I ran yesterday afternoon to see if we had any conclusive results. "Gibbs." I called him over to see what I had.

"What ya got?" He leaned in behind me with his face just centimeters from mine as he read over the results on my screen.

"Remember the second blood sample that was found in the paint on the curb?"

"Yeah."

"Well it belongs to none other than our own Lt. Charles Nelson. We have a DNA match that was taken from his first interview yesterday."

"That means he was lying about having nothing to do with Officer Sharp's injuries. That's good, Liz." Gibbs then turned around to see if Abby had anything for him. What ya got, Abbs?"

"I'm glad you asked Gibbs." Abby spun around on her lab stool and directed her information to the two of us. "According to Ducky our murder weapon is whatever caused the blunt force trauma to the head. The other injuries, cuts, scraps, bruises, and even the military execution style cuts were simply done after the fatal blow. Which seems like an extreme overkill…I mean why continue to beat and cut up someone that can't even feel or acknowledge the cruelty that you are inflicting on them. It's like taking…"

"Abbs! The point?" Gibbs stopped her verbal detour with his usual abrupt nature.

"Anyway, the samples that the Duck-man sent me from the Petty Officer's head were pieces of the concrete from the curb on the street. Of course they were pre-paint job…but they come from the same mix of concrete and other foreign objects on that street. So it seems that our Petty Officer more than likely had his head bashed against the curb near the crime scene to inflict the kill."

"For Nelson's blood to be present on the curb as well, I'm thinking they had a fight of some sort." Gibbs looked over to me as I said this with that look on his face that hid the inner workings of his mind.

"Have we found anything on the knife that was used to cut him?"

"That's still in the air." Abby took over again. "Ducky managed to narrow it down to two different knives that are commonly used among Marines. Here," she pulled out a tray that held the two knives to show Gibbs, "as you can see both have a ridged blade and are made using a thick steel. To use this kind of weapon it definitely has to be someone that is not squeamish about cutting into a person and has a strong upper body. The cuts were precise and deep…that takes a certain determination. This wasn't a casual kill."

Just then the elevator door dinged to announce a new person entering the lab. I looked over to the door just in time to see McGee.

"Abby I was wondering if you…" McGee's words trailed off when saw all three of us looking at him.

"McGee what are you doing here so early?" Abby was the first to break the silence.

"I've been upstairs working on the Lt.'s cell phone tracking."

Gibbs stepped over to stand in front of him. "Please tell me you have something conclusive on this."

"I do, but I don't think you are going to like it. The Director is going to hate it. Our caller that is making contact with Lt. Nelson about the assignments and the text from two nights ago is Admiral Gerald Simon."

"Are you 100% sure about this McGee? We can't go around accusing Admiral's of black market activity and murder."

"I'm certain, Boss. When I first got the results I checked them two more times and then traced the billing for the cell phone to make sure that he was the person paying the bills and that it just wasn't a phone purchased in his name. But all of it leads back to him. His signature on all of the checks paying the bills and even the billing address is his current residence."

I could see the frustration come over Gibbs face as he realized the difficulty he was running into when it comes to accusing Navy Admirals of anything. "McGee, I want to see Nelson again this morning. I think he has more to tell us about his activities that night. Also, tell Tony and Ziva to get a warrant to search Admiral Simon's place for something that can tie him to this whole mess. Be sure to let them know how important it is that we do this discreetly. I want to be certain of everything." He got in McGee's face as he said, "find me that knife."

"On it." McGee took his instruction and quickly left the lab to get on his new assignments.

Gibbs then took a deep breath and turned back to the two of us waiting his instruction. "I want the two of you to go home, take a shower and get some rest. You don't have to report back in until tomorrow morning."

"But Gibbs, surely we can help in some way…" Abby started to protest.

"Abby, there's no negotiation. Both of you have done enough. Go home!" Gibbs then turned with finality and left to catch the elevator.

"The mighty wizard has spoken. You okay to get home alright?" Abby turned to look at me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let me help you straighten the lab before we leave." We worked together in silence until we had everything tagged, marked, and catalogued in the evidence bin for this case. We then wiped down our stations and instruments before turning everything off before leaving.

"See ya tomorrow." Abby waved as we stepped off the elevator and exited the federal building to go find our cars.

I smiled and waved back at her on my way out.

-----------------------------------------

By the time I got home it was already 6am. I stripped out of my work clothes and jumped into a nice warm shower to get the grime of the last 24 hours off of me. Once I was done I pulled my wet hair back into a tight bun and went to snuggle down into my fluffy bed of warm marshmellowy goodness…or at least that's what I like to call it.

I woke up about 1pm and used some time getting dressed and fixing my hair. I decided on a casual outfit that consisted of my dark blue bootcut jeans that hugged my curves, some high-heeled black boots and a deep red colored corset that had a halter strap around my neck. _**(please go to corsetheaven. com and in the search box type 'Isis Corsets - Glamour' to view what I am imagining for this outfit.)**_

Once I was dressed it was about 2pm. I sat for a few minutes trying to figure out what I should do next. After a mind numbing fifteen minutes I decided to go ahead and go into work. It couldn't hurt to have one forensic scientist on hand in case something should suddenly turn up in the evidence.

Once I got to the naval yard I parked and took the elevator up to the bull pen. It was about 3pm in the afternoon. Upon entering I saw Tony and Ziva picking on each other from their desks, while McGee was typing away on his computer.

"Lizzie, aren't we looking very casual Goth today. Love the look." Tony smiled up at me as soon as I turned the corner to enter the bullpen.

I smiled at Tony just as Ziva said, "Tony, can't you stop yourself from flirting with every breathing female within a ten mile radius for just one day?"

"I do not flirt with every single female." Tony defended himself.

"That's true Ziva." McGee chimed in, "In Tony's defense, he did flirt with that transvestite that one time."

I looked over to Tony as he shook his head, "That never happened. Besides, Ziva, you're just jealous that I don't flirt with you."

"Give me a break, DiNozzo. Everyone in this office knows what you want from me."

"She's right, Tony." Again McGee inserted himself into their banter.

"McGeek, mind your own business." Tony got up from his desk and came around to stand in front of me. "The real question here is what brings our lovely Lizzie in today. I thought the Boss man gave you and Abby the day off?"

"He did, but I couldn't stay at home. I was going crazy with nothing to do. I decided to see if there was anything new concerning the case."

"Case is closed." Gibbs came into the bullpen behind me and went over to his desk to set his coffee down. "I thought I told you to go home, Liz."

"You did. I guess I just love my work. So how did you figure it out?"

"Lt. Nelson talked."

"You should have seen it, Lizzie." Tony came over to me as he started to gesture with his story. "Gibbs had the Lt. crying and confessing like a baby."

I looked over to Gibbs with my eyebrows raised in an impressed expression. Gibbs just smirked back at me as I continued to listen to Tony's description.

"He confessed to getting all of his orders from Admiral Simon for the underground trading. He said that the Admiral told him a few days ago that he needed to talk to Petty Officer Sharp to make sure he wasn't questioning his involvement in their activities."

"It seems that Petty Officer Sharp went to the Admiral to report the market." Ziva picked up just as Tony was ending his statement. "Officer Sharp had no way of knowing that he was reporting the illegal activity to the person that was running the entire operation."

Next, McGee chimed in just as quickly as the rest of them. "Lt. Nelson said he picked up Petty Officer Sharp on the night of his death and drove him to Washington Avenue to meet with the Admiral. When Sharp saw the Admiral he freaked out and started to fight to get away. The Lt. said they fought hard enough to make each of them bleed."

"That's when the Lt. pushed Sharp to the ground to try and stop him from getting away." Tony finished the story. "The Petty Officer hit his head on the curb and died. Nelson claims that he thought he had just passed out. He said he told the Admiral that they needed to get Sharp to a hospital, but the Admiral overruled him and told him to go home and let him deal with Sharp. So he did."

"Wow!" I was impressed at how flawlessly they played off each other to tell the case results. "So who gutted him?"

"Admiral Simon." Gibbs interrupted my attention on the others as he unexpectedly answered me. "We found the bloody knife that he used still stashed in the glove compartment of his car. We just need to match the Petty Officer's blood to the blood on the knife, and it's done."

"I can get right on that, Boss." I jump to attention.

"Don't worry about it. I wanted you and Abby to get some rest, so I sent the evidence to a neighboring lab. Of course I will want you to double check their results."

"Consider it done."

Gibbs looked up to see Director Vance looking down at him. The Director gestured with his head to motion Gibbs up to his office. Gibbs picked up his coffee and headed off towards the stairs.

"Did you just see that Probie?" Tony broke the silence.

"What, Tony?"

"Methinks I detect the beginnings of a crush on our fearless leader." When I turned around to see Tony he was coming closer to me, slowly, as he squinted and scrutinized my appearance.

"Leave her alone, Tony." McGee tried to distract him from his train of thought.

"I will not, McGee, 'cause I also see something in Gibbs that I haven't seen in a very long time."

"And what's that?" I ask.

"Interest."

Tony and I stayed in a kind of stand off in complete silence as we observed each other.

Just then a delivery man came into the bullpen. "I have a couple of deliveries for this section of the office."

Tony snapped to attention, "I'll take those. I'm sure they're for me."

"The first one is for a Ms. Abby Scuito." The delivery held out his clipboard to have Tony sign for it.

As Tony signed the paper the delivery guy went around the corner to pick up a large bouquet of black roses.

"Wow, those are really black." I had never seen anything like them.

"Abby's favorite. Gibbs usually gets them for her when she does exceptional work." McGee explained their presence.

"The next one is for a Ms. Lizzie Brandle." The delivery man read his list on the clipboard.

"That's me." I raised my hand to get his attention. He handed me the clipboard to sign for the delivery.

As I was signing the clipboard the delivery man went around the corner again and brought back a simple and elegant vase filled with gerbera daisies.

"Oh my god." I was shocked.

"What?" McGee stood up from his desk to come and check out the flowers.

"They're gerbera daisies…they're my favorite flower. How did he know?"

"It's Gibbs. He knows everything." Ziva got up as well to come over to the bouquet.

I search out the card in the bouquet and pull it out to read it:

_Welcome to the Team._

_-L.J. Gibbs_

Tony looked over my shoulder to read the card. "Congratulations, Liz. You officially belong to Gibbs now."

I look up at him with surprise in my eyes.

McGee laughed a little as he said, "don't worry, he takes care of his possessions."

----------------------------------------

A/N: I want to thank those that have faithfully continued to read this story. I am trying to write new chapters as fast as I can…but with the holidays quickly approaching I will have a week where I will be out of town and unable to write. If you can hold on I will promise to kick this story into high gear soon. As always, **Please Review!!!**


	4. Santa Baby

**Spectro Magic**

A/N: I had a little inspiration from the Holiday season for this next installment into this story. I changed the date of Lizzie's first day on Team Gibbs in the first chapter to make the timeline more accurate for this chapter. Enjoy as things get a little more heated for our favorite no-nonsense NCIS team leader.

Chapter 4: Santa Baby

The next two days of the week were spent working closely with Abby in the lab to document all of the evidence for the closure of our case. We also double checked all of the results from the other lab concerning the bloody knife. Once everything was set and ready to be packed up, we went down to see Ducky and see if he had contacted the Petty Officer's family about picking up the personal effects that we had left over from the case.

"Duckman, what's the scoop on Petty Officer Sharp's family?" Abby got his attention as she walked into autopsy.

I followed her in with an envelope carrying Sharp's jewelry, dog tags, and wallet.

"His family has arranged for a funeral home to pick up his body this afternoon at 2pm. They have given the funeral director instructions to sign for Sharp's personal items." Ducky closed one of the autopsy drawers in the room and turned to address the two of us. "The two of you deserve a heartfelt congratulations for this one. Your investigative gumption made it an easy case to crack."

Abby smiled as she made herself comfortable sitting on one of the examining tables. "We can't take all of the credit. Gibbs's scary interrogation technique is what got Lt. Nelson to sing."

"Too true, Abigail. Jethro does have a knack for intimidating officers." Ducky laughed at his own comment before addressing me. "And how are you fairing with the job, Elizabeth?"

"I love it, Ducky. I've never received a gift for simply doing my job before…I could definitely get used to this."

"Yes, I must admit I was taken back by his actions concerning you. Jethro usually does not purchase gifts of appreciation for his team members until they have spent a fairly long time proving themselves. He is known for testing his agents."

"Maybe she has power over him?" Abby joked with me as I just smiled at her teasing.

"He has been known for having a soft spot for redheads." Ducky pointed out the same pitfall that Abby had warned me of earlier in the week.

"Well, if I'm completely honest, I have a soft spot for him." I blush slightly as I confess my hidden desire to know him better.

Abby perked up immediately as she jumped off the table to come over to me. "Lizzie's crushing on the Boss man?!"

I can't help but just smile at her as I stay quiet.

"I'm afraid that could get sticky, my dear Elizabeth." Ducky inserted himself back into the exchange.

"Yeah, I heard…rule number twelve."

"He follows his rules quite closely, my dear. I fear that your feelings could only lead you toward heartbreak. Our Jethro has never recovered completely from the loss of Shannon and Kelly. Every relationship he has attempted after that tragedy has been doomed from the beginning."

"It can't be healthy for him to continue to carry the guilt of their deaths around like that."

"Heavens no. But he has never put himself in a position to deal with the pain he felt from their loss. He kept their existence a secret from all of us for many years. I'm afraid it will take a very strong woman to deal with that side of him. None of his previous wives have had the staying power to see it through."

"Well, never underestimate the power of a determined woman." I smiled at Ducky to alleviate any doubts he had about my whimsical feelings for his friend.

"Oh, I should never do that again." Ducky nodded with a smile towards me before he turned to address Abby. "Abigail, I hear you are attending a Christmas party this weekend?"

"I am, Duckman. You want to go? It's in the Oak Hill Cemetery…it should be fun."

"I believe parties in a cemetery are a little out of my league."

"Ah, never say that Ducky. You're hip to the bone."

Ducky laughed her little pun, "Maybe our young Ms. Brandle would be interested in joining you on this outing."

Abby smiled brightly and turned with flair to find me. "That's a great idea. What do you say, Liz? You would love it. It's on Sunday night."

I quickly thought about my weekend and realized that I still didn't have any friends outside of work. I have been dedicating myself so completely to doing a good job that I had not yet made an effort to get involved in my new community. "I would love to come, Abby. Should I bring anything?"

"No, don't worry about that."

"What should I wear?"

"Don't worry about that either. I've got the perfect outfit for you." Abby's eyebrows rose with interest as I realized that she was up to something.

"That scares me just a little."

She just smiled in a deviant way before turning to give Ducky a hug. "I hope you have a good Christmas, Ducky. Tell your mother 'hi' for me."

"Thank you Abigail. I will be sure to pass along your holiday wishes to mother." I watched as they hugged with a tight squeeze and showed true affection for each other. It still amazed me how much they were all connected to each other. It made me wonder how they would survive a loss of one of their team. They seemed so much like family.

I watched as Abby let go of Ducky and started to leave autopsy to go back to her lab. I picked up the forgotten envelope with Petty Officer Sharp's effects in it and handed it to Ducky. "These go with Sharp."

"Thank you, Elizabeth."

"If I don't see you before the end of the week, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas, Ducky. You have made the move into this position an easy one. Thank you."

"Think nothing of it Ms. Brandle. I hope you have a good holiday as well. Abby should be a good host for you this season."

I smiled brightly at Ducky before I turned to leave autopsy and go back to the lab to join Abby.

-------------------------------------------------

The rest of the week went by with little activity. Abby was busy planning our outfits for the Christmas party on Sunday. I was floored the first time I saw her sketches. I admit they were very cute and would be a lot of fun to wear…but a little risqué. But I decided to trust her judgment and go along with her. Besides, she assured me that she carries a stun gun and would protect us.

When Sunday rolled around Abby called me around 5pm to come over to my place to get dressed together. I felt like I had a best friend again as we helped each other get ready and fixed each other's outfits for the night.

Unfortunately, our time at the party didn't last long. We had just arrived at the cemetery when Abby's cell went off. It was Tony, he said that Gibbs was on a new case and needed the whole team to come in ASAP. Abby let him know that I was with her and we left for the Naval Yard.

About twenty minutes later we entered the main floor of the building where the bullpen is to find Gibbs and report for duty. As soon as I exited the elevator I knew we were going to get some strange looks…since we weren't dressed in a very professional manner.

It didn't take long for Tony to notice. "Do my eyes deceive me, or do I see two Christmas vixens heading my way?" He whistled as we turned the corner into the bullpen.

We were wearing matching outfits that were a sexy version of Mrs. Claus. The red dress was short, ending at my upper thigh. We had white fur lining the edges of the top and bottom of the skirt and a black belt buckled at our waist. We each topped off the outfits with a Santa hat on our head, black strappy high heels, and one red and one white thigh high stocking with red bows at the top. **(Go to mooncostumes. com and search for 'Christmas Dress Sexy' to see the tights that I am envisioning, and check out the 'Santa Baby' outfit to see the dress.)**

McGee's eyes widened as he saw the two of us come close.

"McGee put your eyes back in your head." Abby chastised him for his obvious ogling.

Tony got up from his seat and quickly came around his desk to stand next to the two of us. I smiled as his eyes raked up and down both of our bodies. "So, what's with the outfits, Mrs. Claus?"

"We had just gone to a party when you called me Tony. We came right over." Abby seemed annoyed at their flustering actions as both Tony and McGee just stood there like randy teenage boys.

"DiNozzo, I believe you are exhibiting yellow level behavior." Gibbs came in behind us and went to his desk.

I looked over to Abby with a question of my face. "Yellow level behavior?"

"It's lingo from a sexual harassment meeting we had awhile ago. It was no good. The lady running it told me that I was not allowed to hug people…and I'm a hugger." Abby explained the whole background to me.

"DiNozzo." Gibbs interrupted our conversation to begin his investigation. "I want you and Ziva over at Quantico. We have a dead John Doe found in the bunkers. Sweep the scene and find me a name."

"I'll get right on that, Boss." Tony didn't move as he continued to stand next to me with a silly grin plastered on his face. "Of all the Gin joints in all the ports in the world, she had to come walking into mine." Tony did his best Humphrey Bogart impression as he got closer to me.

Gibbs walked up behind him and quickly slapped Tony in the back of the head. "DiNozzo, get on it!"

"Right, Boss." Tony quickly grabbed his gear and followed Ziva out of the bull pen to the elevator.

"McGee I want you to go with them and get the tapes from Quantico's surveillance cameras." Gibbs turned around to give instruction to McGee.

McGee grabbed his fire arm and badge as he ran out of the bull pen to catch up with Tony and Ziva.

Gibbs turned around and looked at the two of us together. He stood there for a while and sad nothing to direct us. Finally he smiled a little, "Let me guess…this is your work, Abby?"

"Don't you like it? I thought it would bring in a little holiday cheer. Besides who doesn't like Mrs. Claus? She's jolly, kind, and she's married to the big guy that comes bearing gifts."

"Abby I want you to help Ducky. He's down in your lab working with a few photos the marines sent us of the body. See if you can help him find any distinguishing marks or wounds that can give us a preliminary idea of what we are looking at. Also, see if you can find a way to identify him."

"I'll get on it, Boss." Abby saluted Gibbs in her usual playful manner and lunged forward to hug Gibbs with all her strength. "Merry Christmas, Gibbs!"

"Merry Christmas, Abby. Now get to work."

I watched as Abby left the bull pen to make her way to her lab. Gibbs turned to face me as I stood there in this ridiculous outfit waiting for my instructions. As his eyes scrutinized my appearance I felt a slow blush creep up the back of my neck.

"Now, what to do with you?" Gibbs spoke in a soft, serious voice as he stepped closer until he was standing merely inches away from me.

"I can always go and see if I can help Abby and Ducky with the photos. I could work on them at my station so we can double our efforts."

"That's not what I meant, Liz." Gibbs stared at me with a gaze that intimidated me. I became completely at a loss for words. Finally he simply whispered close to my ear, "You are a mysterious temptation." He then backed away from me and went to go stand behind his desk.

After a second I shook myself from the trance he so quickly put me in and managed to come back. "Feel free to investigate further, Agent Gibbs."

I must have stunned him with my comment. He looked up quickly and held me in place with his eyes. I had a hard time breathing. He looked as if he could devour me right there. Thoughts swirled through my head as I realized that we were alone on this entire office floor, with the lights on low to conserve energy for the holidays. Visions of him harshly embracing me in a passionate kiss started to make me feel a little lightheaded.

"You are bordering on red light behavior, Ms. Brandle." Gibbs stayed behind his desk, never wavering in his position.

"And that's a bad thing?" I slowly walked over to him until I was standing in front of him with only the desk separating us.

Gibbs looked sternly at me as if he was trying warn me.

"You'll have to be more specific about any behavior that you find inappropriate." I knew I was pushing him with my challenge.

"I'm too old for this Lizzie. Don't play games with me. I have three ex-wives…I've seen it all."

"I'm not playing a game. But if you can't see the difference, then maybe I should."

Gibbs took a deep breath and raked his hand through his hair before he looked back at me, "report to Abby's lab and help her with the photos."

I never lost eye contact with him as I slowly responded, "I'll get right on that, Boss." I held his gaze for a couple more seconds before I turned to leave the bull pen for the elevator. I could feel his eyes watching my every move.

---------------------------------------

Later that night Abby and I quickly found ourselves in the full swing of things. It only took a couple of hours before the team was bringing in boxes of evidence to go over and analyze. Tony was able to identify the John Doe and figure out what he was doing at Quantico by tracking down the man's girlfriend from a picture and getting his hands on the vic's blackberry.

After preparing the hundredth vial and pressing buttons on the lab instruments to get results, I was starting to lose my enthusiasm. I looked over the clock to see it was 2:15 in the morning. Abby was bopping around to her usual music as she sprayed down a blanket that was found under the victim. She was looking for trace evidence of any kind to test.

"I think I have finally finished going over this evidence. Everything is running and being centrifuged as we speak." I typed the final few keystrokes I needed to initiate my last test. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No, I'm almost done here. It shouldn't be too long before some of our earlier tests start to come back with results."

I smiled at Abby's enthusiasm so late in the night. She truly loves her work. I take the opportunity to lean against my counter and bend over to pull off my high heels. After standing in them for hours my feet were hurting. I pushed them under the counter, out of the way of people walking by, and walked over to stand next to Abby in my stocking clad feet.

"Abby, has Gibbs ever dated anyone in the time that you've known him?" My thoughts quickly went back to Gibbs and our little stand off earlier.

"If he has, he hasn't been very open with it. I do remember one woman…she was a Colonel in the military. They met while working on a couple of cases together." As she talked Abby picked up a black light and started to inspect the blanket in depth.

"What happened to her?" I leaned over Abby's shoulder to inspect the blanket with her.

"I never really knew. I know she found out about his first wife and daughter when we were working on a case. She kept asking him about it. I think she was upset that he never mentioned it." Abby blew a puff of air up to move her bangs aside and out of her eye as she continued to go over every detail of the blanket. "I could tell that he was annoyed with her pushing and he wanted her to drop it. He doesn't like to have his personal life discussed in front of other people. That probably led to the break up."

Just as she finished talking I noticed a small spot on the blanket become illuminated by the black light. "Abby, Stop!"

Abby froze in place, "What's up?"

"Right there." I pointed to the spot I first saw. "It's miniscule, but I think you've got some fluids on this thing."

Abby leaned over and looked as close as she could to find the small spot I was gesturing to. "I think you're right, Liz. Good eye!"

She set her tools aside and pulled out a gathering kit to swab the fluids off of the blanket for testing. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know…but let's hope it's from someone other than our victim." Abby splayed her feet apart on the ground in a very unlady like manner to get a footing and push herself up off the ground without using her hands.

I laughed at her, "that looks really funny in the Mrs. Claus outfit."

"Can't help it. You should see some of the outfits that I've had to work in. This lab always comes first for me."

Just as she got to her station to work on her new find a few of the lab instruments starting dinging with new information.

"We got something!" Abby looked up to find the dings and search out the perpetrators.

"Looks like your Mass Spec has finished digesting the lipstick found on our vic's collar…and I think AFIS got a fix on the foreign print on his belt buckle."

"Check it out for me, will ya?"

I went to the Mass Spec and pulled up its find. It looked like the lipstick was made of the usual products. I printed out the information to take to my computer so I could track down the brand that uses these specific amounts in their lipsticks. I then went over to Abby's computer to check on the AFIS.

Sure enough, we had a positive match on the print. It belonged to an Erin Mason. She was a Corporal in the Marines. According to her file she joined the Marines early on and has served for 8 years. I printed out her information before I went back to matching the lipstick.

It was about 3 am when I heard the ding of the elevator announce a late night visitor. I had just found the brand of lipstick that matched our find when Gibbs came in carrying a caf-pow and white chocolate mocha.

"Gibbs!! You are a vision!" Abby ran over to him to get her jolt of caffeine.

"Have you got anything for me?" Gibbs was all business when he was on a case.

"I am just working on some fluids found on the blanket underneath our vic. But Lizzie has a couple of things." Abby pointed him in my direction.

I turned to face him with a slight smirk on my lips. "I talk when you hand me that coffee."

"What makes you think this is for you?"

"I can smell the chocolate from here…you drink yours black." I raised my eyebrows in a challenge.

He smiled a little and handed me the coffee as he came over to stand next to me. "So give me some good news."

"Well, first AFIS gave us a match on the print that was found on our vic's belt buckle. It belongs to one Corporal Erin Mason. She has served in the Marines for eight years." I handed him the folder with her information as I continued. "I thought it was kind of strange that she was still a Corporal after all that time."

Gibbs scanned her service record quickly, "Do we know who her superior officer is?"

"Yep, already thought of that. It's a Sergeant Jeremy Thornton. I put his information in the folder as well."

Gibbs nodded his approval and flipped the folder closed.

The intercom in the room came on suddenly as Ducky's voice came into the lab. "Abigail, I have found some unusual markings on our victim's tongue. I was wondering if you might be able to assist me in autopsy? Palmer is away with his family for the holidays."

Abby looked up from her work, "Sure, Ducky…I'll be down in a jiff." She finished her task and set her Mass Spec to work again as she picked up a kit and bounded out of the lab.

Gibbs watched her leave and then turned back to me. "What else?"

"I managed to track down the brand of lipstick that was found on the vic's collar. It's MAC cosmetics. The color is amethyst. It's one of those kinds that come in a round tin and you have to use a lipstick brush to put it on."

Gibbs gave me a look that spoke volumes as I realized that he had no idea what I was talking about.

"Here," I grabbed my clutch and pulled out my own lipstick and brush. "This is a lipstick brush. You use it with lipstick that comes in containers like this." I opened my lipstick and ran the brush over the color. "You put it on your lips like so." I demonstrated by swiping the brush over my bottom lip.

I stopped and closed up the lipstick. I noticed that he was stuck in place with his eyes focused on my lips. I rolled my eyes and noticed the mistletoe that was hanging over the two of us. I laughed a little and pointed up to the mistletoe.

He looked up and spotted the culprit in silence. "You better have more for me concerning this lipstick. How common is this brand?"

"Well, it's not the most common cosmetic out there…but it's fairly easy to get your hands on. It's sold in most department stores. It's a little more expensive than the average makeup. I would say that most women that use that brand of makeup use it for all of their makeup."

"Good."

I turned around in place to pull up some pictures on the plasma in front of us. "If you look here you can see what the MAC brand containers look like. They are usually in a black container with the logo printed on the top."

"Is there anyway we can match that sample to a specific lipstick?" Gibbs turned his face inward towards me to ask his question at the same time I turned to pay attention to him. We ended up almost nose to nose, and I stumbled a little on my next statement.

"Umm, well, here…" I quickly started typing again to pull up some more images. "You see this breakdown of the lipstick?" I pointed to the plasma to direct his attention.

He just nodded his understanding.

"That is the breakdown that came from the MAC cosmetics factory." I pressed a few more keystrokes. "This one is the breakdown of the lipstick on the vic's collar." Both breakdowns were side by side on the screen. "Notice any differences?"

"The sample from the vic has a few extra elements."

"Exactly, this is what we call an environmental marker. These three elements are markers that enter into the lipstick from the surrounding environment…like mold, dust, even sweat from the humidity in the air. Each lipstick ends up with a different set of markers depending on their location. If you bring me a lipstick I can tell you if our vic's lipstick came from that container with a certain degree of accuracy."

"Are we talking about a 60-70% accuracy rating?" Gibbs turned to face me again.

"No, more like an 85-90% accuracy." I smiled at him as I finished my report.

"That's good work, Liz." He then looked up again to eye the mistletoe that we were standing under. As his eyes came down to meet mine I got nervous wondering what he was going to.

He didn't give me much time to think about it as he took that last step between us to bring our bodies together. He used one hand to grip my waist, and he placed the other at the back of my neck to guide me to him. I melted into his touch with ease.

His kiss was brief and yet, consuming. My eyes were still closed when I felt him pull away from me and release his hold on my neck. I slowly opened my eyes to see him watching me with an amused expression on his face. I stood there holding my breath as he continued to grip my waist with his hand.

"Get back to work, Lizzie." He stepped away from me and turned to leave the lab. "Solve this case and we'll talk." With those last words as he turned the corner to find the elevator.

I took a deep breath to regain control of my body before I got back to work.

-----------------------------------

Everyone on Team Gibbs worked throughout the night. It was about 7:00am before Abby and I came to a stopping point and decided to shut down for a few hours. We went up to the bull pen to let the team know that we would be out for a few hours to change, shower and get a little sleep. We were planning on meeting back up here around 2pm.

When we came into the bull pen the team was in full investigative mode. I sat back with Abby as I watched the interaction that flowed between them.

"McGee ran the latest bank transactions from our vic's account and found one unusual charge." Tony was standing in the middle of the desks with a remote in his hand to control the plasma. "He recently paid $2,500 for a weekend couple's retreat that is designed to improve a couple's sexual encounters." He clicked the remote in his hand to pull up a website on the plasma. "This is the company that hosted his retreat, 'Sexual Intrigue'. According to this website they host weekend couple's retreats for people that feel their sexual relations have gone stale or need a boost."

"Something I'm sure all of your previous partners would benefit from, Tony." Ziva walked up behind Tony just to tease him.

Tony eyed her with the usual playful way that they communicate. "Anyway, as you can see Boss, this is not your average couple's counseling retreat. It claims that all of the couples will experience heights of passion they never thought possible…guaranteed, or your money back."

"How does this tie into our victim's death?" Gibbs came around his desk to check out the website.

"I'm glad you asked boss." Tony hit his remote again as the picture on the plasma changed. "The weekend that our vic went to this retreat coincides with the same weekend that Corporal Mason took off for a personal leave of absence."

"McGee, you're with me to bring in Corporal Mason for questioning." Gibbs started assigning duties. "Ziva, Tony, I want you to go to this couple's retreat business and see what you can find out about our couple's participation."

All four of them grabbed their firearms and badges in sync before they took off one by one to solve the next piece of the puzzle. Just as Gibbs was about to turn the corner to leave he turned to face me and Abby. "I want the two of you to go home, get some rest, and change before you come back up here."

Before I registered all that was happening Abby and I were standing in the bull pen all by ourselves.

"Well, I guess it's time to head out." Abby picked up her bag to leave. "Come on, I'll give you a ride home."

"Thanks."

It was then that I realized how much I was truly beginning to love this job. I was almost saddened to leave, even though I was exhausted from working all night. What surprised me the most was the excitement I had about being able to come back up to work in just a few hours. As much as I enjoyed my work in the past, I never had this kind of passion for it.

-----------------------------------

After a refreshing shower, nap and change I made my way back to the Naval Yard to report for work. I got to the main offices around 2:15pm. As I entered the bull pen I saw Abby sitting over on McGee's desk talking with him in an animated way.

"Liz, you made it. Did you manage to get enough rest to be fully charged again?" Abby jumped up off the desk to address me.

"I'm ready to go. One white chocolate mocha will have me bopping again in no time."

Abby smiled as she handed me her caf-pow as a substitute. "I got this on the way here…try it."

"No, thanks. I'll stick to my own form of caffeinated stimulants." I walked over to sit behind Gibbs's desk in his chair while he was away. "So what's the scoop on this case?"

"Corporal didn't have much to say." McGee started with the update. "Gibbs interrogated her and only found out that the couple's retreat was 'magical' according to her. She said she had never experienced such true emotional passion in her life. Other than that, there wasn't much to go on. I could tell that Gibbs was frustrated with her responses."

Abby then broke in, "But Tony and Ziva think that there's something hinky going on at this couple's thing. They said that the owners and therapists are being completely secretive about what their retreat involves and refuses to give the names of any of the participants."

"Can't we just get a warrant?"

"They're claiming doctor/patient confidentiality." McGee answered me. "I'm not sure how Gibbs is going to get their information, but right now he wants to know what exactly goes on at these retreats."

"Why? Is he looking for tips?" I smiled as I made a small joke.

"Never needed any tips, Lizzie. I've never had an unsatisfied customer." Gibbs walked in from behind me without me knowing.

I jumped out of his seat and moved out of his way to let him get to his desk. "Sorry, Boss, we were just going over the case."

Tony and Ziva walked in right behind Gibbs to go to their own desks.

Abby tried to reassure me. "Don't worry, Lizzie. He does it to all of us. Gibbs is all knowing, all-seeing…there's nothing that happens here that he doesn't know about."

Gibbs got down to business quickly. "I want someone on the inside of this couple's retreat thing. There is something going on there that is illegal. Our latest report from Ducky shows that our vic had an unusual drug in his system that he had a severe allergic reaction to. He is running some more tests, but this may be the cause of death. I believe that he got this drug in his system at the retreat."

"What makes you say that, Boss?" McGee spoke up.

"Gut feeling."

"That would explain the mind-blowing sex, guaranteed. It could be a drug induced sensation." Tony jumped into the conversation.

"Tony and Ziva, you think you can go in undercover?" Gibbs asked.

"No go, Boss." Tony answered. "They've seen us and would be on guard if we were there. Chances are they would abort any illegal activities with us around."

Gibbs turned to look at McGee next, "McGee?"

"Umm, Boss…I don't think, I mean…" McGee stuttered profusely as he started to turn ten shades of red.

"McGoogle, don't tell me you're afraid to have a little sex talk?" Tony taunted him.

Gibbs shook his head, "We can't have someone stuttering over their words." Gibbs looked frustrated as he came to a final decision. "I'll take this one."

"Great idea, Boss!" Tony perked up at the suggestion. "So who's going to be the lucky Mrs. Gibbs that gets to go on a sex retreat with the Boss?"

"I'll do it!" Abby injected herself into the undercover plans with ease.

"No offense, Abby, but you would stick out like a sore finger."

"It's 'thumb', Ziva." Tony corrected her as always.

"It does not matter to me which finger is sore." Ziva gave Tony an angry look before she continued. "My point, Tony, is that Gibbs is a very classy man who dresses in a very normal manner. The pairing of him and Abby would be rather obvious as an unusual couple. Not to mention the age difference."

Abby pouted as she was shot down rather quickly.

"Well, then that only leaves…" Tony looked over to me and flashed me a huge smile with utter mischief written all over his face.

As I realized what he was saying my eyes went wide in shock and I looked over to meet Gibbs's gaze.

"Looks like it's you and me, Liz." Gibbs kept a straight face as he informed me of my assignment. "Have you ever gone undercover before?"

"No."

Gibbs nodded his head slightly, "You'll be fine." Gibbs sat down at his desk and began to pull up some things on his computer. "Abby I want you to get Liz and me some identification and any other documents we will need for this retreat. McGee, register Liz and I for the next retreat."

"Boss, the next retreat is a mid-week session that starts tomorrow afternoon and goes on through Friday morning." McGee was furiously typing as he went to work.

"Book it!" I got up and followed Abby to leave for the lab as Gibbs continued to bark orders. "I want all of you to get on this one. I want answers, now!"

As I rode the elevator down to the lab all I kept thinking was _how did I get myself into this?_

-----------------------------------------------

A/N: This is my little Christmas gift to you all before I head out of town for a week. Thank you all for being faithful readers and for the kind reviews. Have a very Merry Christmas!!!


	5. Sexual Intrigue

**Spectro Magic**

A/N: Thank you all for your reviews and loyalty. I hope everyone had a great holiday! Here is the next installment into my own rendition of NCIS. I hope you enjoy the interaction between Gibbs and Lizzie as they enter their first day of 'Sexual Intrigue.'

Chapter 5: Sexual Intrigue

Before I knew it the next day rolled around. Abby had put together fake IDs for both me and Gibbs that gave us the same last name. She also found rings for us to wear and came up with a back story for the both of us to read over to help convince the counselors at this retreat that we were a couple.

According to her print out, we have been married for three and a half years and have come to a point in our sexual relationship that has left the both of us wanting more. We decided to take this retreat to put some spark back into our relationship and to find a deeper connection. Gibbs is posing as a successful marketing representative. I met him while working for him as his personal secretary; and now I work for another company in order to keep our personal and professional life separate.

We seemed to have everything ready to go. I packed a couple of casual outfits to take with me and met up with Gibbs at the Naval Yard. According to the agenda McGee printed out for us we were to meet at this place by 2pm and check in for the retreat.

At the office Abby and McGee set us up with bugging devices and other surveillance equipment so we could send information back to them and keep them up to date on our status. Gibbs gave the team specific instructions to keep him in the loop on the status of the investigation and any clues that might help him while at the retreat.

We drove about 20 miles outside of the D.C. area and came to a small ranch that was secluded in a wooded area. On it was a big, plantation like home that had a long porch lining the front of the house. The grounds around the house were landscaped with lots of private crevices and retreats for people to relax together and enjoy the natural setting.

We entered the house into a large open area that had a small desk in the front and went on to a living area settled around a huge stone fireplace. A bubbly woman at the desk greeted us and went through the process of checking us in.

"Mr. & Mrs. James, welcome to Sexual Intrigue." She handed a small packet of information to Gibbs and gave me a small key. "My name is Dora, and I am one of the couple's counselors here. That is the key to your room; it's number 5. Just go upstairs and it is the second door on the left."

"Thank you." I reply to her instruction with a polite gesture.

"I want you to take some time to get settled into your room and familiarize yourself with the grounds. We will have our first session to meet and get to know everyone here at 5pm. Dinner will follow immediately." She smiled as she continued to give us her spiel. "We have one rule her at Sexual Intrigue…that is no sexual encounters with your partner until the last night you are here. Breaking this rule is means for dismissal from the process without a refund. Is that acceptable?"

I looked over to Gibbs with a question in my eyes of how to respond. He turned to Dora and said, "That will not be a problem."

"Great. There are two other couples that will be joining us for this journey. Please make yourself comfortable…if you need anything just dial '*10' on your phone to reach me."

Gibbs nodded to her as we grabbed our bags and headed up stairs to find our room. I was surprised how nice the room was when we entered. It was a large, spacious room that had an expansive window overlooking the back grounds of the ranch. There was a small pond with a wooden bridge crossing it. A large king size bed stood in the middle of the room with two club chairs placed in front of the window for a couple to sit in and enjoy the view.

I placed my bag on the bed and went into the bathroom to find a large area that consisted of a powder closet with the toilet, a shower and separate spa tub, and a large mirror.

"This place is impressive." I came out into the room to find Gibbs unpacking his bag into the dresser next to the bed.

"Yes, it is." He looked around and inspected the room carefully as I watched his every movement. Suddenly he turned to me, "Darling, come here."

I looked at him with confusion as to why he was acting so strange in private, but obeyed him. When I got close to him he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into an embrace. I found myself wrapped in his arms with his mouth next to my ear.

He then whispered to me, "There is a camera hidden in the upper left corner of the room. They are monitoring our actions. We have to be careful of what we say." He squeezed me tight and released his hold on me a little to look at me face to face. "I am so glad we decided to do this." He said the last part louder for the benefit of the people watching us on camera.

I nodded and smiled to him to let him know that I understood. "I am going to unpack. Do you want to take a walk on the grounds when we're done?"

"Sure." He pulled open an inside pocket in his bag and finished unpacking his things into the dresser. He then took his empty bag and put it in the walk in closet to get it out of the way.

Not long after I was finished putting away my things. We gathered a few things and locked our room as we made our way out to the grounds to walk around.

As soon as we were out of sight of the house Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and dialed DiNozzo. "DiNozzo, the room they have us in is being monitored by cameras. We will have to get away from the main house before we make contact with you."

I listened in silence as I waited for Gibbs to finish his conversation with Tony. Once he hung up I took advantage of our privacy in the woods. "Did Tony have anything new to contribute to the case?"

"He said that Abby was able to identify the fluids on the blanket as our victim's. At this point we only have a print to connect Corporal Mason to the crime scene." Gibbs sighed as the frustration he had about this case began to show. "Ducky was able to identify the foreign drug in our vic's body. It is a highly concentrated aphrodisiac that causes feelings of stimulation and euphoria. It seems that our victim had this coursing through his veins and was highly allergic to it. Ziva is bringing in Corporal Mason to test her blood to see if she has the same substance in her system.

"If these people are drugging their customers without their consent, they are liable for the death." Gibbs finished his update as he stopped walking and looked at me.

"So we are going to have to be careful about eating or drinking anything on Thursday night. Since they don't allow any sexual encounters until the final night here…then I would assume that is when they administer the drug." I tried to reason out how we were going to survive this without getting into some very awkward situations.

I turned and began to walk towards the pond again to check out the ducks that were paddling around in the cold water. It didn't take long for me to realize that Gibbs was no longer by my side. When I turned to seek him out he was staring at me with uncertainty.

"Are you ready for this?" He broke the silence with an open question.

"I'm a big girl, Gibbs. I'll be fine." I smiled at him as I took a few steps towards him. "The real question is are _you_ ready for this?"

"I've been undercover many times. I am not worried."

"That's not what I'm talking about. You seem to be a very private individual…and this could get in-depth. Are you ready to open up?"

Gibbs didn't say anything as he raised his eyebrows with a slight smirk on his lips. I had no idea what his actions meant; but he looked damn sexy doing it.

I was about to continue my walk when I saw Gibbs begin to sign to me.

_Are you still fluent in ASL?_

_As fluent as I ever was. _I wasn't exactly sure where he was going with this question.

_If we get into a tight spot look for hidden signs to help guide you. We can also sign in the room when our backs are turned from the camera._

I smiled at how brilliant his plan was in its simplicity, "Now I understand why Abby calls you El Magnifico."

"We should get back to the main building. Out introductory meeting will be starting soon." Gibbs came over to me and held out his hand for me to take hold of while we walked back side by side. I looked down at our hands and noticed him sign very quickly next to him, _for appearances._

----------------------------------------------

The first meeting was held around the large stone fireplace that sat on the first floor. Gibbs and I sat down on a loveseat next to a young couple that was sitting on the stone bench in front of the fireplace. The final couple was an older couple, maybe in their 50's, and they sat in two club chairs across from us.

Dora and her husband, Thomas, joined us by introducing themselves and asking all of us to introduce ourselves to the group. Dora looked directly at me and asked me to begin.

"Hello, my name is Lizzie James, and this is my husband, Jethro." I smiled at the other couples as they all smiled back and nodded their approval.

"And why have the two of you decided to come to this retreat?" Dora prompted me again.

"Well, two friends of ours came to one of these retreats and had nothing but good things to say about it. They seem to have a renewed passion for each other, and…" I looked over to Gibbs to make eye contact with him before I continued, "we are hoping to gain that kind of spark back in our physical relationship."

"Very good." Thomas looked to Gibbs and motioned to him, "Is there anything you would like to add, Jethro?"

Gibbs looked at him with a blank expression as he shook his head 'no'.

"Good, then we can move on to the Bells." Dora motioned to the young couple sitting next to us.

"My name is Jennifer Bell," the young girl took the initiative to introduce them, "and this is my husband, Joshua. We are here because I have been unable to achieve orgasm since the birth of our son."

I had to hold in my laugh as I saw the young man blush in embarrassment at her openness with their sexual problems.

"And how old is your son?" Dora asked.

"He's eight months old."

"Okay, well we will definitely go into that further in the future…especially in our private sessions." Dora smiled brightly at the young couple to assure them. "And finally, let's welcome the Grants."

"Hello everyone. My name is David Grant, and this is my wife of 28 years, Betty." This time the man in the couple started the introductions. "We are here to learn how to be more adventurous in the bedroom."

"That's great to hear." Thomas took over as he welcomed us all. "Well, it's good to have all of you here with us for this special mid-week retreat. We have two days ahead of us that will be spent in private and community sessions to discuss your emotions, past, and sexual preferences. We will also give each couple some assignments or exercises to do either in the privacy of their bedroom or in a secluded place on the ranch grounds.

"We want all of you to be comfortable and open with us. You are in a safe place and your secrets will not get out…so please be honest with us. Tonight we are having dinner in the main dining room, and we hope you get to know each other a little better and become comfortable with everyone." He pulled out the packet that was given to Gibbs when we checked in. "In this packet you will see a detailed schedule of sessions and events. We will begin tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m., just after breakfast, with gender groups. This is a session designed to allow both men and women the freedom to open up in an environment of the same gender.

"But for now I want you all to enjoy your dinner." Thomas smiled to his wife, Dora and then motioned us out to find the dining room.

The first night was easy. I mingled with the women in the group and learned a lot about their sex lives. I remained closed up about any particulars and simply told them the back story that was given to us by Abby. Gibbs stayed to himself and only interacted with people when they spoke directly to him. I watched how he spent most of the time observing people and his environment. He was always the observant agent.

As the night came to a close I walked over to Gibbs and grabbed his hand to lead him to our room. Once we were safely in our room I turned my back to the camera and called out to him, "baby."

Gibbs turned around to me with his eyebrows raised.

I then signed, _You think they will get suspicious? We were the only couple not being openly affectionate._

Gibbs smiled for the camera and came over to me. He gave me a quick hug and turned us around as he pulled me back into the corner of the room. Our bodies were out of range of the camera as he signed _get into bed and follow my lead._

I pulled away from his grasp and went to the bathroom to find my nightgown. I had with me a simple lavender silk nightgown that stopped about mid-thigh. It covered me in all the right places without being indecent, yet still made me feel sexy.

As I was changing in the bathroom I called out to Gibbs to make conversation for the camera. "So what do you think of this place?"

"Interesting." Gibbs replied through the door with one word.

"You think it will help?"

"We'll see."

I then opened the door to the bathroom to enter the bedroom. I saw Gibbs standing next to the bed in drawstring cotton pajama bottoms with no top. His eyes raked over my body while I walked over to the opposite side of the bed to slide under the covers.

Once I was settled in, he pulled up the covers from his side of the bed and slid in next to me. I was unsure of what to do.

He turned the lamp off on his side of the bed to envelope the room in darkness. My eyes quickly began to adjust to the change with the glow of the moon coming in through the window. In an automatic move I turned onto my side facing away from him.

I felt the mattress move next to me with his actions. Suddenly, I tensed up as I felt his hand snake over my waist to pull me back towards him. I pulled in a large gasp of air as I felt his warm body come into contact with my back.

He nuzzled his nose into my hair and towards my neck. "Mmmm, Lizzie…you feel so good."

I didn't know what to do to respond to his advance. Deciding to follow his lead I pushed my hand behind me to seek out his side. I splayed my fingers wide as I ran my hand down his side. I let out a small moan in response to his tightened grip on my waist.

I then gasped as he quickly turned me towards him so I laid flat on my back. He was propped up on one elbow leaning over my body.

"I don't know what I ever did to deserve you." He searched my eyes before he leaned in to lightly kiss me.

I pulled away from his kiss, "we can't…the rules."

Gibbs let out a huff as he pulled himself up to his full height on his elbow. "This is very hard for me, Lizzie."

"Yes, I can feel that." I chuckled at my own jest. "It's only two nights, Jethro."

He groaned in frustration as he flopped back on to his side of the bed.

His performance made me smile as I turned away from him again to lie on my back. "Goodnight."

He just grunted his reply as we both fell asleep.

------------------------------------

The next day was fairly easy. We spent most of the day in sessions with either gender groups or community sessions. Most of the time Dora and Thomas taught us about sexual exploration in our relationship. They spent a lot of time lecturing to us and giving us advice on how to keep things fresh and how to surprise your mate.

In my private session with Dora she began to ask me questions about my past. I decided to simply go with the truth in order to keep from getting confused or making a mistake later on. She asked me about my previous relationships and how they differed from my relationship with Jethro.

"Is there a difference in the way you react to him, sexually, than you did with your previous partners?" Dora was getting a little more in depth.

"Well, I feel more connected to Jethro. I know he loves me and I always want to please him." I looked at her hoping that I was answering the way she wanted.

"Has he had many previous partners? I mean, he is considerably older than you."

"Yes, he is a little over twenty years older than me…but that never made any difference to me. I have always been attracted to older men. And I was drawn to him the first time I met him." I smiled as I thought about the first time I met Gibbs. "But he has been married before."

"So he's divorced?"

"Three times."

"Wow, so you're his fourth wife?"

"Fifth. His first wife was killed in a car crash." I realized how personal I was getting when it came to Gibbs' life, so I left out his daughter.

"Do you ever feel like he compares you to his previous wives?" Dora was looking at me in a sympathetic way as she tried to make me feel comfortable.

"Not really. He definitely compartmentalizes his life. His past stays there. I have all of him now…and that completes me."

"Does he ever talk about his first wife?"

"No, Shannon is definitely off limits. That's the understanding between us." I was surprised how honest I was with Dora.

"Does it ever hurt you that he keeps that part of his life from you?"

I thought about her question a little before I answered, "It's not that it hurts me. It's that I fear that one day he'll realize that I'm not her."

"What do you mean?"

"I get the impression that his previous marriages all didn't work out because he all of sudden realized that they weren't Shannon…they were just poor imitations. He loved them all in his own way, but in the end none of us can ever be her."

"Have you ever told him that?"

"No…I could never tell him that." I smiled nervously hoping that she wouldn't make me confront him in front of her. Gibbs would kill me if he knew I was telling her so much of his personal life.

"You will have to sooner of later." Dora pleaded with me using her eyes.

"I know." I looked away from Dora and thought about the conversations I had this day. For an undercover assignment that was supposed to be playing pretend, this was hitting all a little to close to home.

Later that night Gibbs and I sat in the club chairs in our room by the window.

"How was your day?" I asked him to try and break the silence.

Gibbs just looked at me and smiled as he laughed under his breath.

I smiled back at him as I understood his position on it all. "Did you talk much?"

"What do you think?" He raised one eyebrow at me in response.

I just smiled as I looked out of the window to watch the sunset. "Have you taken a look at tomorrow's schedule to see what we are doing?"

Gibbs got up out of the chair and found the schedule for the weekend. He handed it to me and walked back over to the corner of the room. He then signed away from the camera, _I am going to take a walk to check in with NCIS. Is there anything you need to tell Abby?_

_No._ I quickly signed my response before he turned to find his cell phone and leave the room.

I flipped through the pages they gave us when we registered at the beginning of this undercover assignment. I found the schedule for the day's activities and began to read through it.

My eyes went wide as I read the exercises that they had scheduled for us tomorrow. The first one was just before lunch: 'The One Hour Kiss'. I read further to see the description, 'this is a one hour long kiss that is designed to ignite desire and passion. The couple will stay locked in a passionate kiss for one full hour, and will not go any further in their sexual exploration. They may use the time to caress each other as long as they remember to put their emotions and desire into showing their partner their love in the kiss.'

I didn't know how to process this as I continued to read on. The last exercise would take place in the afternoon just before dinner. It was called 'The Embrace of Love'. This exercise took place in the couple's bed with them laying together, facing each other. They had to wrap their bodies together in an intimate embrace for twenty minutes. They didn't do anything else…just learned each other's body and learned to find comfort in each other's arms.

I let out a long breath as I used the paper in my hand to fan my face. This retreat was suddenly getting a little steamy. I got out of my chair and went into the bathroom to change into my nightgown.

As I came out of the bathroom the door to our room opened to reveal Gibbs coming in from his call. I looked up to see if I was behind the camera's sight before signing, _Anything new?_

Gibbs turned out the light in the room so we were just standing in the glow of the moon. He then came closer to me and signed, _Tony said that Corporal Mason had the same drug in her system. But her dosage was much lower than our victim._

_How did that happen?_

_He was dosed a second time. But the second time was too much for his allergy and it killed him. So whoever dosed him caused his death._

I my eyes went wide as I realized that we were going to be introduced to this drug tomorrow night. I then looked back up at Gibbs and signed, _We will have to bag as much of our dinner as we can tomorrow night to test as soon as we get back to NCIS. That way we can prove that the drug is coming from this retreat._

Gibbs nodded his head slightly to let me know that he understood.

I then finished walking over to the bed and got in under the covers. Gibbs grabbed his pajama pants out of his drawer and went into the bathroom to prepare for bed.

When he came out into the dark and turned off the bathroom light I had to let me eyes adjust again to the darkness in the room.

I looked over at him after he climbed into bed, "Have you looked over the schedule for tomorrow?"

"No." He was very short in his reply.

"You might want to take a look." I handed him the paper that had our schedule on it so he could see it. "We have some interesting exercises to do."

I held in my laughter as he pushed the paper out far to try and read it without his glasses. He squinted in the dark and read what he could.

He must have read the part I was talking about, because all of a sudden his eyebrows rose quickly as he looked over to me. I saw his mouth open to say something to me, but stopped before the words got out. He must have remembered the camera was watching us at all times.

He then turned on his side and wrapped his arms around me to bring out faces close together. He then rolled me onto my back and found my lips with his own. He deepened the kiss when I moaned my approval and entered my mouth with his tongue.

My mind raced as my body began to sing with the sensations he was pulling from me.

All too soon, he gently pulled away and kissed my lips lightly. He then kissed my jaw and worked his way down to my earlobe. I gasped softly as I felt him take the bottom of my ear into his mouth before he whispered, "Are you going to be okay with the exercises tomorrow?"

Through the lusty fog of my mind I remembered that the camera can see and hear my responses to him. So I moaned loudly and groaned out a 'yes' for him.

He then pulled away and looked down at me. "Ahh, Lizzie these rules are going to kill me."

"Just one more night."

"It feels like an eternity." He then pulled himself out of my grasp and laid down on the bed next to me facing the ceiling.

I gathered up the little bit of bravado I could find in myself and rolled over onto my side facing him. I then placed my hand on his chest and began to trace light circles on torso. I watched as his eyes closed at the sensation and his breathing became slightly labored.

After a minute he grabbed my wrist and stopped my ministrations. "Unless you want to be kicked out of here tonight, you have to stop that."

I couldn't help it, but I smiled at the reaction I was able to pull from him. I laid on my back and watched the shadows play on the ceiling for a few minutes before sleep took me over.

---------------------------------------

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter should be interesting as they have to become more intimate and try to stay professional in a highly erotic environment. As always, please review; it feeds my creativity.


	6. Kissing You

**Spectro Magic**

A/N: I hope you enjoy as things steam up as they go through their exercises at Sexual Intrigue. I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. Thank you for your patience. Please Review.

Chapter 6: Kissing You

The next morning we had breakfast with the group bright and early. There seemed to be a buzz in the group as they realized that this was their last full day here and most of them were excited about the exercises that we had later on.

Dora greeted all of us as soon as breakfast was coming to a close and gave us new instructions. "I want each couple to pick up an envelope with their name on it as they leave breakfast. In it you will find questions or comments that we feel you need to tell your partner or discuss with them.

"Each couple needs to find a secluded place on the ranch to talk to each other. Thomas and I will be coming around to listen in at times and maybe help mediate the conversations. We want this time to be one of healing. There is no fighting, no taking offense when you hear your partner's feelings. Accept what they say and try to process what it is that is making them feel that way."

Dora looked over to her husband to pass on the instructions. "This is the hardest exercise that you will take part in emotionally. Remember that you love the person you are with and understanding them will only give you a greater connection physically." Thomas then passed out the envelopes to the couples as we exited the main building.

Gibbs and I each had an envelope that we took and then walked out towards the pond. We crossed the wooden bridge and made our way under a wooded path to find a place to sit. As I strolled through the trees I took in the warmth of the sun streaming through the branches on my face.

"It really is beautiful here. At times like these I wish I had brought my Ipod."

Gibbs had a confused look on his face, "A pod?"

"No, an Ipod. You know, music?" I looked at him expectantly hoping he would understand.

I had to laugh a little when his expression of loss never left his face.

"How can I put this in terms you would understand?" I mused to myself as I thought back to older technology, "like a walkman."

"Oh, a tape player. Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

"It's a little more advanced than that…but you've got the idea." I smiled at him and turned around a corner in our path to find a small cove with large rocks sitting in a circle. "How does this look for our discussion?"

He simply nodded his approval as he took a seat on top of one of the rocks. His feet were spread apart in front of him on the warm grass. I decided to sit on the grass in front of him with my feet in front of me, between his. I pulled up my knees and hugged them lightly.

"So, how do you want to do this?" I wasn't sure if he wanted to do the full exercise or just wait until the mediators came around to put on our show.

"We might as well look in our envelopes to see what we are supposed to be discussing in case they come around." Gibbs quickly pulled his envelope out of his pocket and sliced the top open to see his list.

I held my envelope, unopened as I watched his face while he read his instructions. All of a sudden I saw a look of anger flash in his eyes and he moved his gaze to me. For the first time I was the recipient of the famous Gibbs stare; and it was truly frightening.

I took a deep breath and tried to get control of my courage before I spoke, "Something wrong?"

"You care to explain to me how they know about Shannon?" His intensity never changed as he questioned me. I felt like a suspect in the interrogation room.

"Oh, that."

"Yeah, that. Explain."

"She asked about your previous relationships. I tried to stay close to the truth in order to keep from making a mistake. I may have mentioned that you have been divorced." I never lost his gaze as I tried to be strong during his confrontation.

"That doesn't explain how Shannon became a part of this."

"She asked if I was your fourth wife, and I accidentally said I was your fifth. So I had to explain about Shannon." His look of pure rage never left as I squirmed on the grass. "I never meant for it to come out. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." Gibbs quickly reverted to his agent code to hide his anger towards me.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot…it's a sign of weakness. Or maybe I just truly feel remorseful about bringing up these painful memories for you." I began to gain my own footing as I became indignant, "Have you ever thought of that, Gibbs?"

He quickly looked around to check the woods around us. "Don't call me that."

I took a deep breath to calm myself down before I blew our cover. "I do have one question…Jethro."

He raised his eyebrows towards me to indicate to go ahead and ask.

"How long do you plan on holding on to the pain of their loss?" I stayed quiet for a minute as I tried to read the expression that crossed his face. I could only describe it as a mixture of hurt and 'how could you?'

"It's going to keep affecting your relationships in the future unless you deal with it."

Gibbs finally moved a little as he let out a defeated huff. "What would you have me do?"

"Whatever it takes."

The look of frustration and anger quickly set again on his brow. "In case you failed to notice, they all left me when things got rough."

That's when it all connected for me. "That's it, isn't it? You're afraid of being left again. You force them to leave before they can leave you? As much as you don't want to admit it, Shannon left you…even if it was against her will." I saw the Gibbs stare turn on me full force as I hit a nerve. "You know, not all women will leave, Jethro. And one day you're going to have to forgive Shannon and Kelly for leaving you."

I saw his eyes soften slightly as he warred with emotions he was uncomfortable with…especially in front of me.

I looked to the ground and sighed before I changed the subject. "This is getting a little…intense. Why don't I open my envelope?" I pulled the envelope from my pocket and pulled it open to find a small index card.

The card read:

_In a private session Jethro discussed sexual fantasies that he has not yet shared with you. Ask him to tell you one of his fantasies in depth while you listen with your eyes closed. Try to imagine what he is describing in order to better understand why he finds the scenario exciting._

I started to blush slightly with Gibbs watching me for any kind of reaction.

"What does it say?" Gibbs extended his hand to take the index card.

"Nothing…it's blank. They must have made a mistake." I pulled the card from him and stuffed it down the front of my blouse with one edge of it tucked into my bra.

"Liz, you need to learn how to lie convincingly. A good lie is always specific." Gibbs lurched towards me and caught the edge of the index card still sticking out of my blouse and pulled it free.

I smirked in amusement as I took in his reaction to reading the index card. A look of surprise came over him before he blew out a short puff of air.

"It surprises me that you opened up so much." I teased him as I laid back on the warm grass and put my hands under my head to stretch out.

"Despite popular belief at NCIS, I have been known to satisfy a woman in bed."

I laughed a little, "I believe it. How else does a man get so many wives?" Gibbs smirked at me as he chuckled a little. "So, you going to open up to me?"

Gibbs held my gaze for a while before he quickly signed, _close your eyes._

I closed my eyes and listened to the silence that was surrounding me. I then heard the crunch of someone coming down the path towards us. I opened my eyes in time to see Dora making her way to our secluded area.

"How are things going here?" Dora came up to us and walked up to stand behind Gibbs, looking at me.

"We are doing great. We were just about to begin the exercise that I was assigned." I answered her with a smile as I sat up in front of Gibbs.

"That's good. Please, continue. Don't let my presence stop you." Dora motioned for us to continue.

I smiled and looked down to see Gibbs's reaction. I could see discontent taking him over completely. I almost laughed out loud when I saw him sign, _get rid of her._

"Umm, Dora, can you give us some privacy for this exercise? I mean these are fantasies that he hasn't even told me yet…I don't think he would feel comfortable talking about them in front of another woman." I smiled up at Dora to try and get her to understand.

"Oh, of course, my dear. Let me leave you to it." She waved as she walked off to make her way down the path to find another couple. Once I could no longer here her footsteps I signed to Gibbs.

_I think she's gone._

_Let me check it out._ Gibbs got up and walked up the path where she went and looked around to see if he could catch her eavesdropping. _Clear._

"Should we get in touch with NCIS while we have this time out here?" Seeing him in his agent mode reminded me of the undercover position we were in at this retreat.

Gibbs nodded his agreement and flipped open his phone and hit a speed dial. In the quiet of the area I could just make out both sides of the conversation.

"_NCIS, this is Special Agent McGee."_

"McGee, what do ya got for me?"

"_Boss. Not much has happened while you've been away. Ducky did find an injection site on our body. He believes the overdose was administered to him via a needle."_

"So he didn't get it from the food here?"

"_No, we are pretty sure he received a small dose from the food there since the drug in his system is the same as the one in Corporal Mason's. But he was given a second dose the night of his death that caused the severe allergic reaction."_

"Have Tony bring in Corporal Mason again to talk to her. She was obviously with our dead guy that night…"

"_We already have, Boss. She admitted to meeting with him outside of the bunkhouse at Quantico that night. But that's it. Said they umm…well."_

"I get the idea, McGee." Gibbs rolled his eyes at McGee's tentative nature. "I want to know how someone got a hold of this drug. Get Abby on finding out how common this drug is, where you can get it, where it's produced, and how it is best introduced into a subject's body via food? If Liz and I are going to be subjected to this drug we should have an idea of how they plan on administering it."

"_I'll get right on that, Boss."_

"And McGee?"

"_Yeah, Boss?"_

"Tell Tony to get out of my chair and go back to his own desk"

I laughed as I heard in the background a lot of movement and the sound of Tony pleading his innocence. Gibbs flipped the phone shut and shook his head at Tony's usual playing around.

"Sounds like we have a murder." I mused about the conversation Gibbs just had with McGee.

"Either that, or involuntary manslaughter. Maybe Corporal Mason was trying to get back the rush they felt their last night here and managed to get her hand on the same drug. Not knowing about his allergy, or how much to give him could have caused his death unexpectedly."

"What a horrible way to go."

"At least he died happy." Gibbs gave me a half smile.

"I was thinking about her. It would be awful to have the man you love pass away in your arms in the middle of making love. Something like that would surely stay with you."

"Not to mention the effect it would have on any future interactions with men."

I shook my head at his comment and glanced down at my watch to check the time. "We have our next exercise in about ten minutes. We should probably head back to the main building. This one takes place in our room."

Gibbs looked up at the sun and stood up to stretch a little. He held out his hand to help me up off of the ground. "Are you ready for this one?"

"I think I can handle it." I turned towards the path and started to make my way towards the main building. "And don't think I forgot that you just got out of telling me about your secret fantasies."

"That's why they are called secrets, Liz."

"I will get them from you…do not doubt my abilities. I can be ninja stealthy…or at least I'm sure I could get Ziva to teach me." Gibbs laughed as he came up next to me and walked by my side.

------------------------------------

Not long after, we were in the living area of the main building standing around the stone fireplace with the other couples. Dora and Thomas came in to direct us to our next exercise.

"This next portion of the program is the most intense and connected exercise that you will take part in during this retreat. The One Hour Kiss is a spiritual experience that will allow you to truly link your consciousness and body to your partner." Dora smiled as she talked about the next step.

"Think of it as a sexual encounter." Thomas spoke up, "Guys try not to think of this as the precursor to intercourse. So many of us think of any kind of foreplay as a chore that gets us to the main event. I want you to take intercourse out of the equation. Make the kiss and the caressing of her body the ultimate goal."

"Listen to your partner." Dora picked up to where he left off, "learn about the sounds they make the little movements you elicit from them. Be observant, study them. Become a master of their body and how they react. Also, please refrain from teasing each other with actions you cannot commit to during this exercise." Dora looked over at her husband and wrapped her arm around his waist with a smile. "If you take this exercise seriously, you will find a new connection that you never knew was possible."

Thomas then directed us to our rooms and told us that lunch would be served about fifteen minutes after we have completed the exercise.

Gibbs and I made our way up to our room and locked the door behind us. Once we were inside I went over to the window and looked out to wait for him to direct me. I suddenly became nervous and afraid of assuming anything.

I heard Gibbs clear his throat behind me to get my attention. I looked over in time to see him signing to me.

_I want you to know that this is the best undercover assignment I have ever had._

I smiled at him in response. I was grateful for his confirmation that this was not something he was doing begrudgingly. "So, where should we do this?"

"Come here." Gibbs stared at me with a look of desire that I had yet to see on his face. It was intoxicating.

I walked over to him to stand in front of him. We were standing at the end of the bed facing each other. He tore his gaze from mine as he looked over to the clock on the nightstand by the bed. When he turned back to me he didn't give me any time to adjust before he leaned in to find my lips.

The feeling of his lips coming down on mine took my breath away. I had to force myself to relax and give into the natural desire I felt to deepen his playful kiss.

I felt his arms wrap around me with one hand at the back of my neck. He ran his fingers up into my hair as he opened his mouth to gain more control of me.

I moaned uncontrollably as I felt his body come into contact with mine. Without thinking my arms came up to grab onto him. I kept thinking that this can't be happening, or things like this never happen to me. I could feel the heat of his body radiating into mine as our bodies molded together in an intimate embrace.

We continued to explore each other's body on the outside of our clothing for a few minutes before Gibbs broke our kiss slightly to whisper onto my lips, "Let's move this to the bed."

I nodded my consent anxiously as I sat down on the edge of the bed looking up at him in front of me. He bent over me and put his hands down on the mattress on each side of me. He sought out my lips as he began to work his way up the mattress with me under him. He never once let go of our kiss as I backed up on the mattress to follow his lead.

It didn't take long for me to feel the pillows behind me. I slid down to lie on my back. Gibbs followed me and came down over me with his upper body propped up on his elbows.

He opened his mouth and used his tongue to tease my lips…begging for entrance. I complied with ease and a moan of approval.

I let out a small gasp when I felt his lower body come into contact with my own. I could feel his erection pressing into me. I was shocked to feel how aroused he was by all of this. It felt powerful and heady knowing that I had the ability to bring such a authoritative and strong man to this state.

My own desire flooded my core and began to feel wetness form between my thighs. It didn't take long for unconscious cravings to take over my body's actions. I began to rock my hips against his, seeking friction to help alleviate the yearning that was building in me.

I heard a rough grunt come from Gibbs as he tried to control his own instincts. Without even thinking about the consequences I pulled one leg up and wrapped it around his ass to gain more contact. The fabric of our clothing rubbed against both of us.

Suddenly, Gibbs growled as he trailed kisses along my jaw line and down into the juncture of my neck and shoulder blade. His hips began to rock against mine in a rhythm that matched my own.

I couldn't help it as I moaned out encouragement, "Yes…oh, Jethro."

He came back up and caught my eyes for a few seconds as he connected to me without words. I felt like he owned me in that moment; like he was giving me assurance that he would take care of me.

He slowly came down again and caught my lips in a slow and sensuous kiss. He used his lips and tongue to languidly pull out the desire that was already building throughout my body. I him still his hips and above mine as he tried to control his actions.

I used my leg to pull my body into contact with his as I continued to rock my hips against him.

All of a sudden I pulled my mouth from his and arched my body up into his as my head flew back with a jolt of pleasure. My whole body tensed as an orgasm shot through me with an intensity I didn't know was possible.

Gibbs held onto me with strength as a gasped and whimpered from the experience. As my breathing came back to normal I felt his lips on my neck as his gave me small kisses to help bring me down from my high.

Once I gained control of my body again I opened my eyes to his lust-filled eyes taking me in completely.

"I think you just broke the rules, Lizzie." He chuckled softly as he continued to softly kiss my highly sensitive neck and jaw.

I was still panting hard as I laughed with him, "I'll try not to do that again."

"We only have fifteen minutes left on this exercise. Think you can keep from losing control again?" He smiled at me with a look of satisfaction.

"I can take whatever you can dish out." He raised his eyebows at me in acceptance of my challenge.

The next fifteen minutes were spent laying side by side on the bed in a deep and passionate kiss. Gibbs stroked my sides and pulled me into his embrace at times and would even groan in approval at some of my actions. We were able to damper our hormones at times by pulling our bodies away from each other when one or both of us felt we were coming close to losing control.

At the end of the hour Gibbs pulled away from me with one final sweet kiss. I was lost in a kind of drugged state as he held me with his eyes for a couple of minutes. It was silent and unmoving in the room. I kept thinking that I should say something or make a move, but I couldn't leave his gaze.

Finally, he sighed softly and went to sit up on the bed. He turned his back to me and swung his legs over to his side of the bed.

"I'm going to take a quick shower before we head down to lunch." Gibbs stood up from the bed and made his way to the bathroom. "Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm fine." I watched him close the door to the bathroom before I got out of the bed and went to the mirror to look at my reflection. My lips were swollen from his kisses and my face was flushed. My hair had that 'just slept on it' look.

I had a hard time thinking about what I should be doing next. I knew I needed to change my pants and fix my appearance before we headed downstairs, but my body was not responding to me. All I kept thinking about was the feel of Gibbs pressed against me, the strength and tenderness that he had in his kiss, the feel of his hands caressing my body, and the constant warmth I felt from his embrace. It was like going home. There was comfort, desire, security and so much more mixed into his presence.

I have never felt like this before and I don't know how to process it.

The sound of the water from the shower turning on pulled me out of my reverie. I was able to find in one of my drawers a clean pair of jeans and panties to put on. I then brushed my hair and tried to put a little powder on my face to damper the flushed look I had.

Once Gibbs was showered and dressed we both made our way downstairs to meet with the other couples for lunch. The lunch was full of excitement as the other couples gushed about the One Hour Kiss experience. A couple of the women opened up to me about the way it made them feel and how excited they were about finally being able to consummate their new relationship.

At one time I looked over to Gibbs and caught his eye as he smiled at me from across the table. I don't know what it meant, or if it meant anything; but it made me feel good.

-------------------------------------------

A/N: The last night at the retreat will be in the next chapter. To Be Continued…


	7. Ending with a Bang

**Spectro Magic**

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter…but I have had such a hard time getting this chapter out and I wanted to go ahead and get out what I have finished. WARNING: This chapter has a full lemon ahead; if you don't like that or are offended by it please don't read it.

Chapter 7: Ending with a Bang

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly as we anticipated the end of the retreat. We had to participate in the embrace exercise that required us to lay on the bed together with our bodies interlocked for twenty minutes. After the one hour kiss, this was easy to do.

I chuckled to myself when I moved slightly about half way through the exercise to see that Gibbs had fallen asleep in my arms. He had his arms wrapped tightly around my waist with one of his legs twined in between mine. I laid my head back on the pillow and closed my eyes to enjoy the feeling of security that his arms gave me for the rest of the exercise.

Before we knew it, it was time for dinner. I put on a long straight black skirt with a skin-tight dark red blouse that hugged my curves. I was able to tuck empty evidence bags under the waistband of my skirt before we left the room. Gibbs grabbed a small bag to put the samples in and escorted me down to dinner.

It was a quick and enjoyable dinner. I engaged the other couples in a lot of conversation to try and put their attention on anything other than my plate of food. I pretended to eat by moving my food around and taking small samples of the food to place in evidence bags.

Gibbs was a sight to see as he worked the crowd with charm and ease. I smiled as I noticed him discreetly use a napkin to absorb the water in our glasses and pretended to wipe away a stain on his clothes. He then pulled the soaked napkin below the table to place it in an evidence bag.

At the end of the dinner I passed all of the evidence bags to him under the table so he could hide them in his bag.

It didn't take long for the noticeable effect to be seen in the other couples. I blushed as the two couples with us began to get closer to each other and openly grope their partners.

"I believe it is time for all of us to move to our rooms." Dora stood up from the table and smiled at the couples around her. "I hope you all enjoy your last night here at Sexual Intrigue…and have a magical time reconnecting to your lover."

I was shocked to see how quickly the other two couples got up from the table and immediately made their way upstairs. I watched with wide eyes as each couple barely made it up the stairs as they kissed and teased each other on their way.

I looked over at Gibbs as he stood up from the table and grasped my wrist to guide me from the room. I quickly pulled from him and stepped in front next to the bottom of the stairs. I turned to face Gibbs as he approached me with a smile. I then signed to him.

_I think they suspect something. Thomas is watching us closely._

_I can fix that._

I barely had time to register what he signed back to me before he forcefully pushed me up against the wall behind me. He pressed his body against mine and quickly descended to my lips. I moaned loudly in an answer to his sudden control of my body. I wrapped my arms around his waist and used my hands to grasp his shirt.

His kiss was done all too soon for me. I felt the cold air hit my body as he pulled away.

"Wow." I blushed as I realized that I said that out loud.

Gibbs smiled as he chuckled at my reaction, "That's what they always tell me."

"Oh, you're gonna get it." I chased him up the stairs and into our room.

Once we were inside Gibbs locked the door and placed his bag with all of our samples in his suitcase.

I turned towards him and signed with my back away from the camera.

_Since we have our samples we could leave tonight if you think we have all that we need._

_But we would miss out on all the fun._

My eyebrows lifted in pure surprise as he quickly came over to me with obvious intentions showing in his expression. It almost took my breath away when he powerfully pressed his body against mine and continued walking forward until we made contact with the wall behind me.

I grunted loudly as my back banged up against the wall and I grasped for some kind of control. Gibbs took no time to let me adjust to this new position when he took control of my lips. I felt him intrude upon my mouth with his tongue as he commanded our every move. It didn't take long for my mind to start losing control of its train of thought as I felt his hands run down both of my sides with purpose. He gripped my skirt in his hands at my hips and began to bunch up the long fabric, using his fingers to pull my skirt slowly up my legs.

It was then that I realized that we were pressed against the wall that was out of the view of the camera. I became confused as to Gibbs's intention of this display. It was unlike him to do anything that wasn't to his advantage. I chose to ignore it as he moved his attentions to my neck and trailed soft, but insistent kisses up my neck to my jaw.

I gasped softly as his fingers finished their trek and my skirt was pulled up to my upper thigh. He held the skirt up with one hand while his other hand moved down to feel the warm skin of my outer thigh.

It was then that I panted out my confusion, "The camera can't see us…we need to move."

Gibbs pulled away just enough to look me in the eye. He smirked slightly as he searched my eyes for something.

"I don't want them to see this."

I took a deep breath as my mind tried to process what he was saying.

He leaned forward slowly and kissed my lips with tenderness. "This is personal." He whispered in between his attempt to play with my lips. "No one gets to see this."

As he took my lips again, I sank into the kiss and moaned with approval.

That was all it took for Gibbs to take control. He used his hands to pull my legs up off the ground and guided me to wrap my legs around his waist. With my back pressed against the wall I was able to rock my body against his to heighten the sensation.

I heard a groan escape Gibbs as he continued to control the situation. He pulled one hand up and began to unbutton the red blouse that I had on to uncover my black bra.

I became too eager to wait for him to guide me and I grasped the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up and off of him. I flung the shirt over his head to land on the corner of the bed. It was then that I felt the heat of his skin come into contact with my own. I sighed with relief as I ran my hands over his chest to feel the hard definition that was completely him.

My head was racing with euphoria as my body surged for completion. I could feel the heat rising as I began to pant hard and moan.

"Lizzie," I heard Gibbs gasp out words as he thrust his hips against mine. I could feel his erection press against me. "This has been the longest foreplay I have ever experienced. I need you now."

"Jethro…I can't wait any more."

I moved my hands down to his belt and quickly unbuckled his belt and opened the fly of his trousers. It didn't take long for the both of us to push his trousers and boxers down to free him from the confining fabric.

I let out a yelp as he ripped my panties from my body. I then felt his fingers delve into my core. I was dripping wet and ready for him in more ways than one.

It was then that he lined up his erection with my core and slowly entered. I let out a groan as I stilled my body to accept him fully.

"Open your eyes, Lizzie. Look at me." Gibbs was panting as he controlled his movements.

I opened my eyes and looked directly into the deep blue eyes of his that were filled with lust.

"Do you want this?" He asked one last time.

I tried to make words, but knew that my brain was past functioning at that level. I nodded my head in agreement to his question. In a split second I cried out as he thrust fully into me.

"Are you okay?" I saw concern come over his face as he searched me for a sign.

"I'm fine…don't stop, please."

It didn't take long for us to find a rhythm. We moved against each other as he pushed and pulled his body into mine with power. I threw my head back against the wall as I screamed out with each thrust that rocked me closer to completion.

The sensations that ran through my body made every inch of my skin tingle and even more sensitive to his touch. I could only suck in a deep breath as he trailed heated kisses down my chest until he found my breasts. He used his tongue to trace a line over the top of one of my breasts. It didn't take long for him to use one of his hands to pull the cup of my bra down to expose my breasts to his questing tongue.

"Harder…Please!" I begged for him to give me more as I came closer and closer to going over the edge.

Gibbs began to pound into me with a strength I didn't know he possessed. My back banged up against the wall with each thrust. I was sure I would have bruises later on as a sign of these amorous activities.

I felt my orgasm build at my core and yelled out as I clenched my thighs around his waist. I ran my nails down his back, leaving scratches as evidence of the passion I felt.

"I'm so close…don't stop."

Gibbs grunted as he continued to drive home in me. "Come for me, Lizzie."

My eyes flew open at his words to find him staring at me with an intensity that I had not yet seen from him. That was all it took for me to lose control.

My whole body tensed up as waves of pleasure shot through me all the way up my spine. I barely registered the strangled groans that came from Gibbs as his thrusts became erratic and uncontrolled. My body began to shudder as I slowly came down from my high. Aftershocks made me catch my breath in my throat as I felt Gibbs lose control.

"Oh God, Lizzie!" Gibbs grunted out as he pumped into me two more times as his body convulsed with his own completion.

I felt my body go limp as I tried to catch my breath. Gibbs pressed his forehead against mine as we both panted hard from the sheer exhaustion of our actions. Less than a minute later I felt him lift me up into his arms and pull my body away from the wall. I wrapped my legs around him tightly in order to keep from falling out of his hold.

He walked over to the bed and laid me down on top of the covers. When he straightened up his back was to the camera and he smiled at me sweetly. He then surprised me when he sat on the bed next to me and finished undressing me slowly. As he pulled my skirt down he traced my legs with his fingers with light caresses.

My eyes began to flutter closed as I relaxed into his soft touches. Once I was completely undressed, he pulled off any remaining clothing from his own body and got into bed on the other side. He pulled the covers up and over the both of us and wrapped his arms around my body. I moved into his embrace and rest my head on his shoulder as I began to fall off to sleep.

That night we made love two more times. The second time Gibbs was completely different than the previous experience. He took his time and worshipped every inch of my body. He moved slowly in and out of me, driving me insane with sensations running through me.

---------------------------------------------------

The next morning I woke to the sound of the shower running. I rolled over onto my back and stretched languidly to pull out the kinks in my body. It was then that I felt the familiar soreness between my legs that reminded me of the activities the night before.

I heard the sound of the water being shut off and the door to the shower open and close. I smiled as I thought about a naked Gibbs drying himself off just beyond that door.

A minute later the door opened to reveal a fully dressed Gibbs in his usual casual suit that he wore at work.

"Good morning, Lizzie. Are you ready to get back?" Gibbs smirked in my direction as I sat up in the bed with the sheet still covering my breasts.

"I just need to get a shower and we can be on our way." I stood from the bed when he turned to pull out his bag and begin to pack to leave. I pulled the sheet off the bed and wrapped it around my body to hide from his gaze. I don't know why I was being shy after all that we had done; but I kept waiting for some kind of recognition from him about what we did the night before.

"Shower quick. We have a lot to do today." He was using his usual tone that he used when he was at work. I felt like saluting or saying some kind of affirmative in acknowledgement of his order.

"I'll be done in not time." I pulled the door to the bathroom closed and dropped the sheet from around my body. I looked in the mirror to inspect any evidence of our actions. If I had any telling marks visible on my body DiNozzo would be sure to find them in a matter of minutes. It was best to avoid that line of questioning.

I turned around to see my back and noticed a few bruises beginning to form on my shoulder blades. I guess that means I can't wear any corsets that are halter or sleeveless until they heal. My eyes followed down my body to find the outline of fingertip bruising on my hips. I guess Gibbs was holding on tighter to me than I realized.

I turned towards the shower and turned on the water to get ready. It didn't take long for me to shower and get dressed to go. I packed up my things and pulled my bag over my shoulder before I left the bathroom. When I emerged I saw Gibbs sitting in one of the club chairs by the window looking out at the grounds. His bags were all packed and stacked neatly next to the room door.

"You ready to go?" He looked over at me without moving or smiling. He just looked stoic and unmoved.

"Yes, I think I have everything." I stood still waiting for his instructions.

"Then let's go." Gibbs stood up and walked past me to the door. He picked up his bags and began to stride out of the room and down the hall to the stairs. I had to smirk to myself as I ran after him to try and keep up. I felt like I was back at NCIS trying to keep up with his pace.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

About an hour later we pulled up to NCIS. Gibbs pulled out my bag from the trunk of the car and walked into the building with me. We stayed silent as he followed me to the basement and into the forensics lab to put my bag down by my desk.

He then pulled the bag of evidence we had gathered at the dinner the night before and handed it to me. "I want you and Abby to run these samples ASAP. I want to know if the drug found in our victim came from this place." And with that he turned as fast as he always does and left the lab.

A few minutes later Abby came bouncing into the lab. She was listening to her IPOD and rocking to her music. I waved in her direction to get her attention.

"Lizzie!!!" She quickly pulled the ear buds from her ears and ran over to me to embrace me in a strong hug. "I'm so glad you're back. It's amazing how easily you get used to having someone in your lab. I was going crazy without someone here to keep me on track."

I smiled from ear to ear as I enjoyed her enjoyment of my return. "It's good to be back, Abs. What have you been up to while I was away?"

"Oh, no. You don't get out of this that easily. I want to know everything that happened at the sex retreat. I mean you got to be up close and personal with the boss man…and I know you've been itching to jump his bones. I want all the dirty details."

"Abby, there's nothing to tell. We pretended to be a couple and convinced people that we were married."

Abby rolled her eyes at my sad attempt to sway her inquiry. "Oh come on, I heard about the camera in our room watching everything the two of you did. What happened at night when you were in the bed together?"

"They had a rule of no sexual intercourse during the retreat. It was considered means for removal…so we didn't do anything."

"I so don't believe you, Liz. There's something you're not telling me."

I just smiled at her and shook my head at her enthusiasm. "We have a lot of samples to run." I pulled out the bag Gibbs left me before he went upstairs. "These are all of the food samples we took from the final meal we were served at the retreat. The napkins were used to gather any liquids that were served to us as well."

The distraction worked as Abby took the samples and immediately started separating them in the order that she wanted to work them in. It didn't take long for the two of us to get into the swing of things again with our usual routine.

Having the two mass specs would make this easier to isolate the specific elements that we were looking for on numerous samples at a time. It was now a waiting game.

------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Thank you for being so patient with me to get this chapter out. I had a lot of things going on in my life at once and was unable to get back into the swing of writing. I hope to be quicker in the future. I love all of the wonderful reviews I have received for this story…Thank You!!!


End file.
